Viral Saints
by MikeX713
Summary: After surviving a horde of zombies, black ops death squads, and a nuke, Alex Mercer now has a new outlook on life. And decides that the best place to enjoy his new immortal life as walking death is... Stilwater.
1. Survival of the Shittiest

**Author MikeX713**

 **Disclaimer I do not own Saint's Row or Prototype.**

 **Feedback is encouraged and enjoyed as it helps a lot, however if you are going to troll then keep it to yourself.**

Alex looked back at the New York skyline as he kept a firm grip on the helicopter's controls. For the first time since waking up in that morgue he felt actual terror, true, unavoidable, undiluted fear. Right below him was a nuclear warhead that was going to detonate any moment. Alex's eyes turned back to the wide open ocean, the only colors he could see were the blue and black of the water and the night sky. The view would have been perfect if the moon wasn't behind him. He knew what he was doing was the right thing, saving the city from the utter and complete destruction of nuclear fire by flying it over the ocean. But in his gut he felt empty. What people said was true, your life does flash before you when you're facing death, and all Alex could feel as he saw it was disappointment. He had spent so much of his life in pursuit of so little, so much work and not much of anything else. Alex looked down at the metal floor, his gaze locked on where the warhead was, all he could feel was contempt for the way he lived. In that very moment he jumped out of the helicopter. The aircraft began to dip down just before the warhead exploded. The blast sent shock waves through the air, launching Alex forward while the following fire scorched and liquified his body.

Alex dropped to the New York city sidewalk in the form of a bloated infected bird. An infected horde quickly appeared at Alex's subconscious call to the hive mind. A single tendril quickly shot from the bird to one of the infected and began consuming it. More tendrils followed, wrapping around the rest of the infected. Only once all their biomass had been consumed was Alex able to reform into his normal state.

"Holy fucking god!" Alex screamed as he stumbled over to a nearby brick wall. "No way am I doing that again!" Alex slid down the wall until he sat on the pavement trying to catch his breath, his hand placed over his where his heart was covered by his white collared shirt. He looked up at the cloudless night sky and thanked whatever higher power was out there that he could see it again.

 _I need to leave. Blackwatch is going to keep at it until I'm dead or on a lab table_. _I need to make what just happened into an opportunity, I doubt that Blackwatch will think I survived a god damned nuke. Just so long as they don't see me. Okay, there's a plan. Lay low and find Dana, then eat... a lot... Food would be nice... and beer... anddddddd everything else. I've lived too damn long without enjoying life, and I'm never going to find myself staring down death and not feel that I have experienced everything I could have. But I can't do that here. New York is going to be combed top to bottom for anything infected. I need to leave now._

Alex pushed himself back up, and after cracking various joints began moving again. Alex walked around the corner of the nearby brick apartment building and found a man smoking and talking on his phone. Alex waited in the shadows until he finished his conversation.

"I know I said I'd pay you thirty but you're getting twenty five and you better be damn happy that you're getting that!" The man yelled into the phone before hanging up. He took one last drag from his smoke before Alex tapped on his shoulder. "What the hell you want..." The man didn't get to answer as he was quickly consumed. Alex shifted into the man's form and smirked.

 _"Twenty five... for that piece of junk, I would have passed all together._ " Alex thought as the man's final memories came flowing into his mind. Alex looked to the skyline of New York and as much as he wanted to glide through the towering buildings he knew that would drew too much attention. Opting to not to be noticed he walked instead of flying to Dana's safehouse. "Dana!" Alex shouted as he walked through the door before he was quickly embraced by his sister who was in fact crying, something he hadn't seen her do in a long time. He had known her since the day their father brought her home, they both were adopted, him was when he first born, Dana when she was four. He only had seen her like this three times before, and every time it had disturbed him greatly.

"You stupid moron! You could have fucking died!" Dana yelled at him after pulling back from her hug. "Did you even think about what would happen if you died?!" Dana said this punching Alex's face sending him to the floor.

"Damn it!" Alex said holding his face. "I still feel pain you know!"

"Shut up..." Dana said calming down. "You just had me worried is all."

"If I didn't do what I did then you and everyone on this island would be nuked and dead."

"I know… it's just I don't know what I would have done if you had died."

"Oh I'm sure dad would have come and saved you." Alex said as he walked past Dana. "Like he always did." Alex grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down on the apartment's couch.

"Shut up, he didn't always save me."

"Yeah because of those times when _I_ did." Alex cut the top of the bottle cleanly off with one of the talons on his claws. "Remember the time that guy Jeff was getting a little too close." Alex said with a raised eyebrow before taking a sip.

"I remember you beating the shit out of him."

"Imagine what I could do now." Alex said quietly to himself.

"Enough memories, where are we going now?"

"Blackwatch must think I'm dust, and I almost was. So we need to take this as an opportunity to run and hide until they completely give up. As I was walking over here, I was thinking that we need to hide out on another island, last place Blackwatch would look. But more importantly… the place needs to be shitty, and I mean _shitty_." Alex took another sip. He honestly didn't like the idea of living the way he was describing, but it couldn't be helped, Blackwatch was paranoid, and extremely thorough. He needed to lay low for years, and even then he needed to be careful.

"Why? With what you can do we can live in penthouses and mansions… oh, that's what they would look for."

"Right, as for the doctor… we'll get him out of New York and if he wants to come then he's welcome, but after we get off this island he's free to do as he pleases."

"Well first we need a way off the island."

"Oh I'm already working on that." Alex said as he shook the empty bottle in Dana's face as if to say get me another.

"You can't even get drunk, why the hell are you still drinking?" Dana was more or less saying this because at the rate Alex was going there wouldn't be any left for her.

"I can still taste, and almost dying gives you a new love of all the little things in life." Alex said as he shook the bottle again. Dana groaned as she got him another beer for Alex.

"So what's this plan you have?"

"It's not so much a plan but a last ditch attempt at freedom. I'm now in complete control of the Infected hive mind, I've been ordering the zombies to go underground in the subway system and wait for my command to pour out and stampede toward the only bridge out of here. At the same time the Hunters will attack all the bases on the island and while all the shit hits the fan we'll hijack a helicopter to get the fuck out of here. They'll so busy with everything that they won't noticed us."

"This sounds like a really big gamble, they could just detect a single helicopter and then the secret would be out, they would know you're alive."

"Nope, all that equipment would be on this island, and we're heading in the direction of the mainland Blackwatch base. The two of you will jump out while I crash the helicopter so they think that it was one of theirs that just crashed."

"That could work… how soon until everything will be ready?"

"A few hours, I would like to do this as soon as possible, the longer I keep the hordes back the more it gives Blackwatch time to figure out that something is wrong."

"Right I'll pack up everything we'll need for sure." Dana had a long list of things she would need, but an even longer one for the things she would need to do to keep Blackwatch off her tracks. Her entire apartment needed to be torched and her presence on the net scrubbed. These would be the first of many.

"Remember that you can't use your own name anymore. IDs and credit cards are a big fuck no."

"I'm not stupid Alex, so where are we going to go after we reach the mainland?"

"First off we'll head north, Canada then back down through the west coast. But as to where we'll hide out for the next few years… Los Angeles could work actually, the massive population would work in our favor. But do you know anywhere better?"

"Well you said that an island would be best, but it's not on the west coast."

"You have an idea?"

"Yeah, I have a… well he's not a friend, more of a connection, but during a spring break I met him and we stayed in touch because he got me some of the best weed ever."

"You can count me and my newfound love of life interested."

"Okay… the weed wasn't the point I was going to be making. He lives on an island city in Michigan… it's called Stilwater."

"Stilwater… I think I heard of that place…" Alex ran through the memories of all the people he had consumed, some had been to Stilwater and what he saw of their memories he liked. Not only was Stilwater the shittiest of the shitty that he could wish for, but it was also full of everything he would need to experience the life he wanted to live now. "I agree, Stilwater would make a perfect place to hide out."

"I don't know if Ragland would like idea of living in a place like Stilwater."

"I never said he had to, he seems interested in researching the virus that makes up my body. He might fellow us to learn more about Blacklight, but whatever he decides I'm good with." Alex finished off his beer and threw it out the open window. He smiled at the sound of someone yelling out in anger at being hit through the window. _Things are getting exciting, and once we get off this rock I can do whatever the fuck I want._

* * *

Ragland looked through his microscope at one of few slides of Alex's blood. It was like a living work of art, each and every cell of the Blacklight virus was masterpiece. Ragland could only marvel at what he saw through his eyepiece. So much of his attention was towards the slide of Alex's blood that he didn't notice the man himself come into the room.

"Hey doc… you doing okay?" Alex said he walked over to Ragland. The moment Alex touched Ragland's shoulder Ragland came back from his marveling.

"Oh… Alex? When did you arrive?"

"Just now, we have a plan to get the hell off of this island."

"Is that so? That certainly is good news, how is it going to happen?" Ragland was surprised at this. Not because Alex had a plan but more or less that it came so soon. Alex had just saved the island from a nuke and now he was getting ready to take on the incredible task of escaping a Blackwatch quarantine.

"Going to flood the bridge and bases then hijack a helicopter and once we're over land we'll crash the copter with two corpses inside so they think whoever took it died on impact."

"Very thorough, I would expect nothing less." Ragland said, a bit more worried than excited at the prospect of leaving the island. "And after we reach the mainland?"

"Me and Dana are heading north to Stilwater, it's perfect, so shitty that Blackwatch wouldn't ever think to look there. Not only that, but's another island so I really doubt Blackwatch would think that I would willingly live there. But hopefully all this will be unnecessary if Blackwatch thinks I died in that nuke blast."

"They don't know you survived?"

"No, there's no reason to, and so far I haven't given them any more." Alex sat down in one of the hospital chairs and kicked his feet back onto one of the desks.

"What about me? What do I do once we get the mainland?"

"You're welcome to come with us, you just can't be you. That means you'll most likely end up being a back alley doctor unless you're willing to make a career change." Alex carefully watched the doctor's reaction. He'd come to know the man quite well, he didn't fully consider him a true friend but a great ally nonetheless.

"No… I wouldn't be able to remain in the public any more than you would, I'm sure Blackwatch already knows about me and has standing orders to kill-on-sight. Going underground with you is the safest course of action." This is what he told Alex but in truth he couldn't let something as beautiful as what was happening in the man's body leave his own sight. He was rather disgusted with the prospect of becoming a doctor to the criminal underworld, but he knew it was something he would have to get used to. "How long until you will enact your plan?"

"In about… under an hour." Ragland responded with a look of complete horror. He couldn't get ready in that time, he had samples to collect, equipment to ready, he had lived in New York for all his life! He needed a little more time for closure.

"Not… not even an hour? I can't prepare in that time!"

"Nothing to prepare." Alex stood back up and threw a duffle bag towards the doctor. "That's the only bag you get, any more would draw too much attention." Alex turned back to the door. "Meet Dana and I by the northwest base." Alex changed shape then walked out of the hideout. Ragland was without words; he couldn't begin to find any that could describe the sheer amount of fear building up in his mind. When he first heard Alex's plan he thought it would need some time before he would have the numbers to such a thing. But to perform a assault of the magnitude he implied would take massive amounts of infected to so. He knew there wasn't a shortage of infected among the hordes outside, but to be able to control them all? Ragland looked back at the few slides of Alex's blood and a wave of reassurance came over him, realizing that so long as he had access to Blacklight he would never stop seeing such wonderful sights. His would always be the greatest trump card in the history of humanity.

* * *

Alex stood atop one of the apartment buildings near the only way off the island by foot. This bridge had been turned into an impenetrable fortress by Blackwatch and Alex knew without a doubt that Blackwatch would have preferred to have blown the thing up like the others but there were still people on the island and they needed a lifeline to the outside world if they were to remain calm.

 _These fucking sadists would rather nuke a whole population just to kill me, I bet it took a bunch of yelling and threats to make them keep even this connection to the outside. I can only imagine what they would do if this happened on the mainland, they most likely just nuke the place out of the gate, hard to quarantine infected when not trapped by water._

Alex smiled as he watched the beginnings of Blackwatch leaving the island, he knew they would never truly leave for years to come but now that they thought he was dead there was less of a need to be here. Now they just had to clean up the last few remaining Hives and hordes of infected… but lucky for them Alex was going to help them with that. Ever since the idea came into his head he had been ordering the infected to move down into the subway system, what was left of it, and claw their way to the nearest opening to the bridge. He also had all the Hunters he could control move near the military base. He was now going over the final check through, Dana and Ragland were now waiting just outside the northwest base, the only base he planned on leaving alone just in case one of the Hunters went out of control and attacked Dana and Ragland. This went into his plan perfectly anyways, resources from the northwest base would be taken to the others. Blackwatch wasn't smart enough to see through it all. Alex sent a quick and simple message through the hive mind and watched the infected pour out of the subway in the thousands. The sight of a wall of infected flesh caught the Blackwatch guards completely off guard. They could never in a million years think that the infected could do something this remotely coordinated. The infected simply climbed over the Blackwatch encampments, tearing and ripping flesh and armor as they went. Alex smiled as he watched _his_ horde, knowing that if he ever wanted to he could make another, albeit that would bring back the dogs of the government. Alex turned as the infected began climbing a Blackwatch tank, from the hive mind he could tell that the base attacks were going equally well. The only way for this to go bad is if Blackwatch somehow found out that he was alive.

Alex watched the horde move across the first line of Blackwatch encampments, pouring over it in a human wave style attack. But they were stopped at the second line, the gun turrets and incoming tanks caused the horde to fall back a bit. Alex frowned at this, and the infected could feel the radiating bloodlust coming from Alex. They all were mindless monsters incapable of feeling anything but what the Hive Mind willed. But they all could feel the their Alpha, their leader through the Hive Mind. And they all instinctively knew never to turn back when they were being watched by their Alpha. The infected horde all roared and screeched and once again began their second advance on the Blackwatch defenses. Alex once again grinned at the sight and felt that he could leave it to the horde, knowing he could control the situation from afar.

Alex climbed down the building and began walking to the meeting spot that he and Dana had agreed on. As he walked he felt a bit disappointed in how he was leaving New York, but then he passed by a used electronics shop which was playing old Godzilla movies in the front window. Alex stopped and watched the old movies as a new plan formed in his head.

* * *

Dana watched Ragland pace in front of her, they were sitting on a bench nearby the northwest base waiting for Alex. They had watched the soldiers from the base leave a few moments ago to reinforce the other bases and most importantly the only way off the island by foot.

"He should be here by now." Ragland said as he paced in front of Dana.

"He has to be careful, he can't be flying through the city."

"I know that… it just makes me worry."

"Alex is walking death; he is now the one of the few people in this world that you can never worry about."

"I know all that!" Ragland took a breath after receiving a glare from Dana. "Just that the loss of him means death for us." Ragland looked back at the duffle bag that held the few items that he needed, most important among them the slides of Alex's blood. Dana just sat waiting, if there was two things she could be sure of one was that her dad would never stop using massive amounts of profanity and the other was that Alex would always take time to try to scare Dana. Dana could feel it, Alex was nearby and waiting for the best time to jump out and try and unnerve her. At that, the ground began to shake. Dana looked behind her and saw a massive infected monster walking into sight from behind the cover of a skyscraper. It walked on three bloated legs that had several smaller appendages of various kinds, its body holding itself together with tight muscle and sporting a few misplaced eyes here and there. Its five arms all helped it move forward, its three fisted arms helped give it balance and its two clawed arms held firm on to nearby buildings. its sunken head roared as it moved forward in a fairly awkward way. The monster began lumbering towards the nearby base while Alex walked casually towards the two.

"Look at what I made!" Alex said completely proud over his creation.

"Alex! What the hell did you do?!" Dana said grabbing her bag, anticipating a soon to be mad dash to the helicopter.

"I had a bunch of infected and hunters consume each other and that's what came out of the mess… I named it George." Alex said only half joking.

"Well _George_ might destroy our way out of here." Dana said not happy with new development.

"Oh don't worry about that, it's really dependent on the hive mind more than others. So I can control it like a robot almost."

"In any case, we now have a much better chance of escaping now that their attention is focused on the creature." Ragland said trying to get the two back on track.

"Yeah, now let's get going." The two followed Alex as he changed into a Blackwatch officer he had consumed on the way over. The three easily made their way into the base, all of them with some form of disguise to keep the cameras from catching their faces. Alex had already procured three dead bodies before he arrived and had placed them near enough to be gotten easily. Soon, the bodies were placed in a helicopter and the three quickly piloted the vehicle off the base. Blackwatch was so focused on the situation at hand that no noticed the helicopter flying away, all the guards were looking at the three -story-sized infected and the men in the control room of the base were focused on coordinating a counterattack on the infected horde as a whole. Alex celebrated to himself as he piloted the helicopter towards the mainland while Dana just watched for any sign of Blackwatch noticing them and Ragland just waited enclosed in his thoughts. Alex quickly moved the helicopter as close to the surface of the water as he could to avoid setting off any radar, and after a while they had reached the mainland and soon after Dana and Ragland made their jump down to the ground before Alex crashed the aircraft without any concern for his own safety. The Viral reached out of the wreckage and climbed out with very little effort, and after dusting himself off he made his way back to his sister and the doctor. "Well that went perfectly."

"They might not have noticed us leaving but they will notice the crash." Ragland said, knowing they still weren't safe.

"Oh don't you worry your pretty little bald head; the hard part is over." Alex said as he pulled out a map of Stilwater. "Where should we make our base? I think we should settle in the northern area, looks suburban, could be nice?"

"No Alex, the point is to hide, people there would ask too many questions and you're the only one who could take over someone. I think we should go to the city, get an apartment, it would be easy to come up with a story and procure money."

"No the city is too populated and there are cameras."

"What about here?" Ragland pointed to the area marked as Saint's Row. "A poorer area and filled with people who won't ask too many questions."

"Huh… I guess that could work." Alex said not completely sure.

* * *

Author's Notes

Update, okay... I did some work and now it's a bit longer. I'm 99% sure that I got all the grammar.


	2. And it's the one with one L Bitch

Alex was in deep thought, he had many things on his mind as the ordinary people in front of him walked by and went about their day. He and Dana were sitting at Gate 3 of a rural, low-security airport in upstate New York, waiting to board their flight to Stilwater. It had been fairly easy to get past the screening, a few fake IDs and papers and they were in. To avoid the cameras, Ragland had performed a bit of simple plastic surgery on Dana, she looked basically the same but just different enough to fool Blackwatch. For Ragland himself, Alex performed the surgery, he had plenty of anatomical knowledge before becoming the Blacklight host so he did well enough, but the scars he left didn't seem to heal as well as Dana's. With great strain, he was able to reshape his primary form, his jaw becoming a bit sharper, his hair turning jet black, a fake scar forming over his right eye, and his eyes turning from blue to grey. His clothes had also changed, which took considerable effort as his clothes had also been replicated with him. He was able to change his clothes to a pair of baggy jeans with combat boots over his feet, and he appeared to wear a plain white tank top and black vest over it. Lastly, he changed out the hoody for a baseball cap of his hometown of Pittsburgh.

"Hey… you doing okay?" Dana asked concerned over Alex's mental state. He had been very quiet for the past few days.

"Oh it's nothing, just…. talking to myself." Alex chuckled at the inside joke.

"Right… Ragland should be back any minute now."

"He better have my food." Alex said as he impatiently tapped his finger on the steel chair he was sitting in. They waited for a while before Ragland returned with the food for the group.

"Coffee and muffin for Dana…" Ragland said as he handed her the small order. "… and two triple burgers, large fries, hot dog, several bags of candy, and three different drinks for Alex." Ragland's nose wrinkled as he passed Alex the enormous tray of food before sitting down.

"Alex… I think you're going overboard with this new lifestyle of yours."

"I went through hell, I'm allowed to enjoy life while I have it."

"But you _could_ slow down, Ragland said that you might be immortal now and that means you have a long time to enjoy things at a reasonable pace."

"Ha, 'reasonable,' that one got thrown out the window with 'restraint' and 'moderation.' "

"Oh, Alex, someone gave me this saying you'd know what it meant." Ragland handed Alex a small bag of nuts.

"Yes I know just what this is for." Alex said, a little ashamed of himself.

"How do we know that's not from Blackwatch?"

"It's not, it's from a friend, ignore it. So all of us know what to do once we arrive in Stilwater?"

"Yes, we first check out the local law enforcement and look for any signs of Blackwatch infiltration, after that we find a place in Saints Row to live. You and I will live together and Ragland will live nearby. I'll stay home and monitor the BlackNet while you work a blue collar job to appear normal."

"Meanwhile, I begin work as a… back alley doctor." Ragland was clearly not happy with this but he knew what was needed.

"Right, the goal is to hide until a few years have passed, then we can move up in the world without Blackwatch noticing." Alex looked around the airport with his Infected vision making sure that no one might be Blackwatch, he was sure that most to all of Blackwatch's forces had been to the island so it made sense that they all had a form of the infection. No one caught his attention other than a few women he didn't mind looking a bit closer at. His mind had become fairly distracted since surviving the nuclear blast, it was like all he could think about was trying new things and satisfying every craving he had before something finally killed him. Alex jerked back to reality to the sight of Dana snapping her fingers in his face.

"Earth to Alex."

"Oh… sorry I was just distracted with protecting you two." Alex said smugly. A voice over the gate's speakers announced that boarding for the flight to Stilwater was now starting. The three quickly got up and after a small fight over the amount of food Alex was bringing on the plane they were seated and waiting for takeoff.

* * *

"Are you Sure that Zeus has been eliminated?" The Blackwatch commander asked his captain. He was a pudgy man, had never been in a fight once in his life, and the only reason he commanded the soldiers was because he had wormed his way up through the ranks. It wasn't that he did a bad job as commander but his constitution wasn't for fighting, which worked perfectly with Blackwatch which had been filled with soldiers who lacked the perspective and vision for leadership. He had been delegated with directing almost all the operations in New York under General Randall, and to him and many of his peers he was quite successful. The launching of the nuclear warhead was not the first choice in killing the target, but after so long their hands had been forced. With his superior dead, it was up to him to find out if Operation Firebreak was at least partially succeeded.

"From all accounts it seems so sir. We have not received reports of any sightings of Zeus, it would seem that the blast atomized him."

"What about the hordes and the other infected constructs?"

"After their last push it seems that they have begun to die off. The larger Hives are still active but they show signs that in time they too will be defunct. The Infected constructs on the other hand are not dying off, they've been given the codename Hellhounds though the troops seem to simply call them Hunters, the one that appeared in the last attack codename Goliath has been subdued and is being transferred to Tartarus as we speak."

"Good, project Olympus has been asking for some new subjects and this new one should keep them quiet."

"Sir, if I may speak freely?"

"What is it captain?"

"My gut says something's missing, something important. We never captured target Athena. She's still out there and could be carrying a strain of the Blacklight present in Zeus."

"Her face is already on the watch list, the moment she's in front of a camera we'll have her."

"That's not the only thing, we received a report of a crashed 'copter on the mainland, the occupants died on impact but I'm still not sure."

"What was the state of the bodies?"

"Too destroyed by the crash to identify by their appearance, we're having DNA testing go through but there's a backlog and it's not like we have Athena's DNA on file."

"The crash is likely of no consequence, have the test go through but if it turns up nothing then we will return to normal business."

"Yes sir." The captain gave a quick a salute and left the commander. The commander tried to return to his paper work but what his captain said nagged at him.

* * *

Alex stretched his arms as he walked out of Wardill International Airport. The city was in full view in front of him, smog, cracked streets, rundown buildings and all, and he drank in the sight. Stilwater worked perfectly for his needs, no Blackwatch, plenty of new and exciting ways to experience life, and the place was so shitty that no one would expect him to come here. Dana dropped her bag next to Alex, the ride had not been kind to the two normal humans.

"Alex I'm already having doubts on this whole 'we live like shit' plan." Dana said completely exhausted from the stress of the flight.

"I concur, there were several times I thought we were going to fall right out of the sky." Ragland said more fearful than out of breath.

"Oh come on you two, we're here and we're alive." After waiting for the two normal humans to catch their breath, Alex and Dana caught a cab and Ragland got his own. They had decided that it would be best to work as two groups to throw off any suspicion. Alex's group made their way to Saints Row first while Ragland waited in Stilwater's Chinatown. After paying the cab driver Alex and Dana walked over to small rundown apartment complex, and with a bit of haggling with the landlord Alex and Dana were able to finally breathe easy.

"I know this couch has bugs and a dead rat in it, but I'm just so glad that I don't worry about some murder squad bursting through the door that I don't care." Dana sighed as she draped over the dirty couch that was already in the room they rented. The whole place was a small one bedroom apartment if it could be called that. "You think we should call dad and tell him we're alive?"

"Are you kidding? The whole point of us hiding is that we don't want people to know we're alive. Blackwatch has the old man on surveillance, guaranteed."

"You have point, he's just the only family we have."

"Eh, we'll tell him in a few years, but right now I need to find a job." Alex simply just grunted this before walking out the door. After leaving the building, he was struck by the urge to jump a mile in the air and glide his way over to the tallest skyscraper he saw. He knew that even though there were likely very few cameras around, the sight of a man doing such a thing would no doubt draw attention. So Alex did something he rarely did: he walked, slowly and aimlessly. As he passed by drug deals, seedy clubs, and dingy tattoo parlors he took the time to memorize the local neighborhood, though this was clearly a place that would simply be called the hood. He knew it would likely be easier to consume some poor sap and use their memories as a base, but that ran the risk of questions from the locals. **"** _Everywhere I look, the possibilities are endless. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I should stay careful, Dana doesn't deserve to go through Blackwatch's funhouse of psychological torment. She's been through enough, and I feel bad already for making her live here, even if it is to hide. The best I can do is try to make it easy for her. I owe her a lot more than that_ **."**

The most noticeable landmark in the area was the bombed-out local church. It had been abused and tagged so much by that point that to call it a church was a bit misleading. Among the graffiti that covered the walls Alex noticed that three groups seemed to persist in their tagging. Alex made them out to be written by the main gangs of the city, having had seen similar tagging on his way here. The first were the ones that he saw the most, "Los Carnales", who seemed basically filled with Hispanic members. The Vice Kings were second in their presence in Saints Row and looked to be entirely made up of African Americans, and the last one was the Westside Rollerz, who looked like mostly white speed freaks with a few Asian members here and there.

What Dana said had made sense, he _would_ need a form of income to pay the bills, which would have to be payed legally while anything more could be from less-than-legal means. He passed an auto shop with the name "Rim Jobs" above it before stopping to do a double-take, now _that_ made him laugh. He had consumed several people that had advanced knowledge about cars, this could work. Alex walked into the slightly dirty shop, though it was still spotless compared to the outside.

"Um… you guys hiring?" Alex asked the man at the counter who barely even noticed him over whatever magazine he was reading.

"Oh… yeah, one of my guy got shot in a drive by." The way he casually said this would have worried and shocked most people, but Alex was used to death and simply saw it as good luck on his part. "First off… you in any gang?" this seemed to be the only time the man paid any attention to the conversion.

"Nope." Alex said with the straightest face anyone could give.

"Good… not making the mistake again." The man returned his focus to his magazine. "You see that truck over there?" He lazily pointed to a battered pickup near the back of the work area. "You fix that hunk of junk and you got the job."

"Thanks." Alex walked behind the man and into the shop. He quickly brought up all the memories of a dozen mechanics and engineers, and after a few moments sorting them all he was able to fix the truck in under an hour. When Alex started the car, the man at the front desk was so shocked by the roar of the engine that he fell to the floor. "Do I get the job?"

* * *

Ragland quietly ate his duck soup he had ordered. He was in a restaurant in Chinatown though he had had food far more authentic than this. He didn't meet up Alex and Dana like they had planned, and now that he was in the city he was having second thoughts about Alex's plan. He wasn't going to leave, no, that would deprive him of the Blacklight Virus, but he needed more than just hiding out in the slums of this city. He knew he couldn't apply for a job at the local hospital, but he detested working as a doctor to the scum of humanity. Ragland took a deep breath and looked at his bag, in there held the secrets of perfected human potential. Right at his fingertips were the keys to life itself, but it meant nothing if he didn't have the tools required to understand it. It was so much power, and to not learn everything about it before using such power was suicide. He would have to find a way to live properly while conducting his research. It was then he realized that while Alex and Dana lived in the slums alongside pimps, drug dealers, and thugs he didn't have to do the same. There were many criminals of considerable wealth that would utilize his services. Perhaps he would take on one of the local crime lords as a patron of sorts.

* * *

Alex finished his first shift and began walking back to the small room he now called a home. As he walked down the street admiring everything that this gritty and crime-infested city had to offer, he passed a man selling a suitcase full of fake watches, the peddler loudly claimed that they were real but it was clear that was a lie. Still, he was far more interested in what came next.

"Hey baby, you lonely? I could show you a good time." A woman said as Alex slowed. Before he could answer, a gang brawl broke out in a nearby parking lot, distracting both Alex and the hooker. The fight soon turned even more violent when a red open-topped car pulled up and the gang members inside opened fire on both sides of the conflict. As more gunfire erupted, the car soon swerved towards Alex, who dove out of the way just in time as it crashed into a nearby wall. One of the initial brawlers, who Alex could now see was a Westside Rollerz member, came over and shot the only survivor of Los Carnales, but even the Rollerz member was killed by a Vice King who now turned his attention to Alex.

"Wrong time wrong place dog, can't leave no witnesses." The man said pointing his gun at Alex, but just as Alex was about to tear him to pieces another gunshot rang out and the Vice King dropped dead.

"You okay player?" a newcomer in purple said as he reached out to help Alex stand.

"Julius, let's move." Another newcomer to the scene said, he was the one who killed the lucky soul threatening Alex. The newly-named Julius helped Alex away from the burning car just before it exploded.

"You don't look so bad, you should be fine." The man had no clue how right he was. "That's Troy…" Julius pointed back at his friend. "… you can thank him later."

"Hey." Troy said quite simply.

"The Row ain't safe no more son, we got gangs fighting over shit that ain't theirs. And with you in the way they don't care if you representing or not."

"Julius, this is no time to recruit."

"We need all the help we can get son."

"No, we _need_ to get our asses out of here."

"In a minute. Look, the Row's got a problem. Come to the church when you want to part of the solution." Julius and Troy left at this. Alex didn't know what to make of what happened.

 **"** _Day one and I'm already in a gang war. I did better than I thought I would_ **."** Alex internally chuckled to himself.

Alex quickly made his way back to his and Dana's apartment. At the state his clothes were in, Dana hastily asked what happened. After telling her about the day he just had she looked at him with complete shock.

"You're not going to join up with them are you?"

"It crossed my mind, it would put us in good standing with the local gang and with what I can do they'll be the top dogs in a month give or take. We'll be able to live freely under their shadow."

"You make it sound like it's a good idea, only it's not. The only thing this will do is bring attention to us."

"But it won't, it will bring attention to the gang. Gangs rise and fall all the time, Blackwatch isn't paying a flying shit what a small-time gang is doing."

"I still don't like it."

"Fine then, if they start getting popular then I'll just die in front of them and boom, everything is fine."


	3. Time to Get Things Started

Alex stood in a large crowd of fresh-faced gangbangers, all of them fairly jumpy and excited. He didn't blame them; they were about to enter into a gang war for their own 'hood. Even though he had just moved here a day earlier he could understand their desire to protect what they saw as theirs. Indeed, he would do the same. They all had some form of purple on them, and Alex had in kind changed into a purple tank top to try and fit the theme. He had gotten a few confused looks, most likely from the fact that, having recently moved to the area, none of the locals recognized him. He was almost sure that someone was about to confront him on this when Julius came out from the church.

"Every motherfucka here know what we need to do." Julius said, still sounding speech-like. Alex wasn't entirely sure whether he was bringing a gang together or running for mayor. "Now those bitches be riding around here thinkin' they own these streets. I don't care what flags they flyin', Rollerz, Carnales, Vice Kings. No one's making _this_ nigga scared to walk the Row. We about to lock this shit down **right now**." This brought cheers from everyone there. Alex tried to blend in with a neutral face, but it didn't keep him from being spotted.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" one of the men in the front asked, glaring at the newcomer. Almost at once, Alex found himself surrounded by two enormous bruisers. They had no clue what a bad idea it was to try and intimidate him, but Alex kept his cool.

"Troy and I found him, we're going to see if he'd ride with us." Julius said, trying to keep Alex from leaving as they truly did need each and every last man.

"Julius, if wants to run with the Saints he has to be canonized." The earlier guy said.

"Hey he's right Julius, everyone had to it." Troy said trying to keep the others happy.

"You ready for this playa?" Julius quietly asked. Alex cracked his neck and took a deep breath.

"Let's see what you punks got."

"Who are you calling a punk?!" one of the larger Saints yelled as he punched Alex in the gut, only to drop to the ground screaming and clutching his hand. Alex had not even moved an inch from where he stood. At that, five others rushed at him, Alex had to pull back by at the very least ninety percent in this fight, or he might have ended up killing them all. Alex even let a few of them think that they hit, pulling back at the last second and faking a bit of damage, but not too much as that would make the display with the first punk rather strange to anyone watching. After a few more waves of this Alex knocked down the last Saint with a classic round house kick. Alex turned to Troy coming over to him.

"You earned your colors today." Troy said approvingly as he brought Alex in for a handshake.

"That's some impressive shit." Another Saint said as he walked over. If only he knew what Alex could do, then what he'd done would look like a bunch of children playing in a sandbox. "The only other Saint that kicked ass like that was Johnny." The Saint said as he nodded to the one that called Alex out.

"Shit, took me half the time." Johnny said with a grin, Alex knew he would like this one.

"Welcome to the Third Street Saints." Julius said with a congratulatory fist bump. "Let's get down to business. If we're serious about takin' back the Row, we gotta let those motherfuckers know what time it is. Break it down, and it's all about respect. Get enough of it and they're gonna back off, and we're gonna move right on in. We got some friends in town that could use some help. Give 'em a hand. 'Course, you could always drop any motherfucker flying the wrong flag. So long as word gets out that the Saints is on the Row, I don't give a damn how you do it. You feel me?" There were a few cheers but mostly just nodding in agreement. The crowd began to disperse but Alex was stopped by Troy walking over to him.

"Alright man, I think it's time for you to get a piece. You're no good to us if some Vice King comes over and drops you because you couldn't do it first."

"Really, I think I can handle myself pretty well." Alex said pointing with his thumb to the mess of injured Saints from when they canonized him.

"Yeah… I'm not saying you can't take or give a punch, but it's stupid not to have a piece when you're flying colors. Come on, there's a Friendly Fire nearby." Alex shrugged and began following Troy to the gun store. "So where you from man? I haven't seen you in the Row before."

"That's because I just moved here."

"From where? Better question, why?" Troy joked.

"Ha, my sister knows a guy here so… plus it's a great place to lay low, I'm not exactly clean if you know what I'm saying."

"Oh yeah man, Stilwater's filled with people like that. You can't throw a rock with hitting some fool that's got a record."

"To answer your first question I came from New York…" Alex waited for the inevitable reaction, and he got it from the look on Troy's face.

"You're from New York?! You're not fucking sick are you?!" Troy said, recoiling and pulling his shirt over his mouth.

"Hell no…" Hell _yes_ "… they wouldn't let one of those zombies off the island." Alex smiled as Troy relaxed. He was ninety-nine percent sure that he wasn't contagious, he had been around Dana and she wasn't showing signs of infection, Ragland too. The two continued their chat as they walked to the gun store.

"Welcome! From revolvers to rocket launchers we got what you need." The clerk said as the two men walked in. Alex walked over to the glass case filled with guns. After a bit of thought Alex picked out the revolver, it didn't have the ease of reloading that the more modern firearms had, but he liked the stopping power and weight it had. Naturally, kickback and keeping steady aim wouldn't be any issue. "Now don't you go waving this around like a cap gun, you hear me?" The clerk said as Alex handed him the money for the gun.

"Alright man, whaddya say we take that piece and clean up the Row?"

"And by 'clean' you mean splatter with brains and guts right?" Troy just give back an indifferent nod. They walked out of the store and quickly found a few Vice Kings before taking cover and opening fire. As the gunfight ensued, Alex had to push down the memories of the many spec-ops soldiers he had consumed. He'd already drawn a bit too much attention with the beating he gave, and the sight of him pulling out one shots left and right would not help in keeping out of the spotlight. As the last Vice King dropped dead Alex and Troy came out of cover.

"Nice going. Little tip for a newbie here in Stilwater, if you ever have the cops or other gangs on you and you can't handle it just go to Forgive and Forget. They will make sure to pay just the right people to cover up everything. Let's head over there right now, I don't really feel like getting shot any more than I have to." Alex and Troy quickly stole the nearest Vice Kings car and drove over to Forgive and Forget, the concept of a drive-through confessional drawing no small amount of skepticism from the former. "Hey man, now that everything's taken care of, can you drop me off at Freckle Bitch's? I'm jonesin' for a fun bag." Alex drove them across the street to the local fast food chain. Alex had had a good laugh when he read about it in the Welcome to Stilwater brochure they had on the plane.

* * *

Ragland walked up to the enormous mansion that was the home of William Sharp. The head of the street gang known as the Rollerz. Out of all the criminals in this city that Ragland had been able to obtain information about, this man was the only one that had attracted his interest. The doctor walked up before knocked on the great wooden door. It took a while before someone answered.

"Yes?" A man in a suit asked professionally, clearly part of the staff.

"Yes… I wish to speak to William Sharp." Ragland said while adjusting his glasses, they had not been fitting right since Alex gave him his new face. "I have information that might interest him."

"I'm sorry but Mr. Sharp is a busy man and doesn't have time for…"

"It has to do with the business he has with his nephew's friends."

"Very well sir, you are lucky that Mr. Sharp is free today." The suited man lead Ragland to the study room of the mansion.

"Shepard, who is this? I don't have any appointments today." The gray haired man asked, going through a few legal case files that had caught his eye. It wasn't that he did any real cases anymore, but some were so incredibly stupid that they made him laugh.

"This man said he has information that might interest you that concerns your nephew." Sharp sighed at the mention of his family.

"Very well… come in, have a seat." Ragland walked over to Sharp's desk and sat across from him.

"This information would best be kept to as few people as possible." Ragland nodded to the butler.

"Leave us Shepard."

"As you wish sir." The butler said before closing the doors behind him.

"There, now what is it that you have to tell me?"

"Oh that… that was a lie, I simply wanted to speak with a man as powerful as yourself alone."

"Very well you went to all the trouble so I'll hear you out before I have you kicked out." Sharp leaned back in his chair, he didn't show it but he was interested, this man spoke in such a way that showed respect and that in his mind should be rewarded.

"I seek patronage, someone to watch over me and keep me safe from those that hunt me."

"And why would I want such a relationship with you?" Sharp frowned, but the gesture was an act. He already wanted this man on his payroll, he was constantly surrounded by rude and greedy brats and it would be a nice change of pace to have someone like this man around.

"I am a doctor of considerable skill, and if you would take me under your banner than I would work exclusively for you." This was music to Sharp, to have a doctor in his organization would help greatly, any minor injuries his men had could be fixed without taking them to the hospital whose staff would require bribes to keep them from reporting said injuries. This was just one of the many benefits he saw that an in house doctor could provide.

"Hmm… how much would you charge?"

"Just enough to live comfortably, I do not require much."

"You come here and show respect to your betters, an admirable trait. That is more than I can say for the ones my nephew brings me. You know your place, but I may see fit to elevate it, so I will give you my patronage." Sharp liked putting it that way, it felt regal. Ragland smiled at this, he now had everything he needed. Soon he would be able to continue his research.

* * *

Alex was lying on one of the pews in the church playing an arcade game on his phone, he had just finished taking out a storefront that was a front for a Carnales hideout and want to take a break. He was about to get a new high score when Julius yanked the phone out of his hand.

"What the hell man?!"

"Enough playing around, you and me need to talk."

"About what?"

"Troy told me where you're from, I want to get a few things straight."

"I'm not infected." Alex lied before adding on _I'm way worse_ than that in his mind.

"Oh, I believe you on that. You'd be a damn zombie if you were. I just want to make sure that you're not on some Fed watch list."

"I told Troy I have a record, but I don't think I'm going to be bringing down the wrath of the government down on Stilwater… now can I have my phone back?" Julius smiled at this.

"Sure, whatever playa." Julius mischievously dropped the phone on Alex's face.

"Hey Julius!" Troy said as he ran over to the two. "I got a tip that there's a turf war going on right now. If we crash their party, we can take all those sons of bitch out at once."

"Good work Troy, well son ready to get your hand dirty?"

"Weren't clean to begin with." Alex said as he got up and followed the Saints to Troy's car.

"Hope you're strapped playa, cause we're about to go in hard." Julius said as they closed the doors to Troy's car. Troy was driving and Julius was next to him with an unhappy Alex in the back.

"I ain't gonna lie to you, when we get there it's gonna get rough…" Troy said to Alex before turning back to Julius. "Julius, you sure it's cool we take this guy instead of Johnny?"

"Troy, you worry too much, he'll do fine."

"Hello, right here! I'm not a mute you know." The three laughed at Alex's comment and drove down to the docks. The three other gangs were already receiving quite a bit of fire from both each other and the Saints. Julius and Troy quickly jumped out and joined the fire fight. Alex looked on the unfolding chaos and smiled, oh he was going to like the Saints. Alex jumped out of Troy's car and ran over to a wooden crate before taking pot shots at the nearby Carnales. Once the last one dropped the group moved on to the next dock taking fire from the defending Vice Kings. Being a bit more bold, Alex walked straight into the crossfire, using his enhanced senses to avoid being hit. Alex quickly made more accurate shots than his fellow hoods, and soon the last Vice King fell dead.

"You **crazy** motherfucker, you trying to get killed?!" Julius demanded as he came over to Alex.

"Nope, just the other way around." Alex smiled, but to Julius it was the smile of a madman.

"Julius! We're still in a turf war." Troy said as he followed up behind Julius, but the truth was he was equally shocked at Alex's recklessness. Julius looked back at Alex and pushed away any real worries in favor of focusing on the turf war. They began moving to the final gang. The Rollerz were easy pickings by this point, and they were culled off in a matter of minutes.

"Hopefully these motherfuckers get the idea that the Row ain't theirs." Julius said before the sound of sirens began coming from nearby. "Oh shit."

"Damn… cops!" Troy yelled out. The three quickly stole one of the nearby cars and made a break for it. After an hour of dodging and hiding from cops, the heat on them lowered and they made their way back to the church.

"Damn that was close, but we got the Row locked down and that's what's important." Julius said as he made his way to the church steps. "You two come by later, I'm setting a meeting up later tonight." Alex and Troy just shrugged in agreement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dana was taking a power saw to the wall of their apartment. She was hoping to be able to access the landlord's internet cables from here and patch in to set up a network she could work from. She didn't stop when she heard the door open.

"Hey Alex, how was killing people?" Dana said sarcastically as she peered into the newly-made hole.

"Who's Alex and how come he's killing people without me?" a new slightly unhinged voice came from the door. Dana bumped her head in shock at this new voice and what it had just said. She looked up from her project while rubbing her head, realizing the speaker was Tobias, his red dreadlocks and habit of going out in public barechested had always made Dana laugh.

"Tobias! What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you! Why you didn't call me when you arrived in town?" Tobias said casually walking into the apartment.

"I just got here yesterday and it was kind of a rushed thing."

"Is that so! So why haven't I gotten a so much fax, telegram, or phone call…"

"I called you two days ago."

"You called me two days…" Tobias pulled out his phone. "… oh… okay. In that case…" he gestured grandly around the room. "Let me welcome you to Stilwater."

"You haven't changed in the slightest."

"Not one bit… now, who's Alex and why is he killing without me?"

"Alex is my brother, he's out with a new street gang."

"First day in Stilwater and already having all kinds of fun."

* * *

"Listen up, people. I got some serious shit to discuss." Julius said to the gathered Saints in the church. "Yeah we cleared out the Row. You think for a second that's gonna stop 'em? Unless we wipe all these motherfuckers out, they're gonna keep comin', and they ain't gonna be happy. It ain't gonna be settled until the Carnales, Rollerz, and the Vice Kings ain't nothing' but a memory." Alex was sitting in the very back, he was already gaining a reputation among the Saints as being a crazy badass and he intended to help that along by preserving his mystique. "Dex, you got the Carnales. Ever since they hooked up with the Colombians, it's like they own this town, and with that drug money rolling in, we can't compete. Be smart how you move against 'em. The Lopez family been runnin' that gang for thirty years. There's a reason they still around" he finished warningly.

"Got it." Dex answered back.

"Troy, you're dealing with the Vice Kings."

"Not a chance…" Troy answered back, a big puff of smoke coming out of his mouth.

"Fuck you say?!"

"Anyone but them." Troy said back with not even a twitch of fear of punishment.

"You scared of going against Benjamin King?"

"Man, fuck that, I'll take King out." Johnny said as he swaggered to the front of the group.

"Johnny, it's not that simple."

"Bullets still kill motherfuckers, right? Doesn't get much simpler than that." Alex grinned at this, he would _definitely_ like this one.

"Keep an eye on ya boy." Julius said to Dex.

"I don't need a fucking babysitter Julius!"

"Keep an _eye_ on ya _boy_."

"Who's got the Rollerz?" Dex answered hoping to change the subject.

"I do." A new woman said as she walked into the church. Alex moved forward in his seat and made a slightly audible growl of approval as the very attractive woman walked forward to Julius.

"Lin… the fuck you wearin' blue for?" Johnny asked bewildered.

"I asked Lin to hook up with the Rollerz. We don't know much about these fuckas, so I wanted one of us on the inside."

"I didn't think the Rollerz pimped hos…" one unfortunate Saint said before being socked in the jaw by Lin, causing Alex's smile and interest to grow.

"Any other comments?"

"Yeah when you punch, don't throw your shoulder so much…" Johnny added smartly.

"Shut up Johnny."

"... and make sure to hit just above the eye, more pain for the other guy." Alex added from the back causing all the Saints to turn back to him.

"Good point newbie." Johnny said while Lin just rolled her eyes and gave back a slight grin.

"Okay enough of that. It's _our_ time now, let's get this shit started."


	4. Alex Bonds With the Vice Kings

Alex was about to walk out of the church when he was stopped by Julius.

"Wait up playa. I need to talk to you."

"What do you need?"

"I want you to work with Johnny and Dex on taking down the Carnales and Vice Kings."

"Why me?" Alex was personally fine with this but knew that too much attention would end up working against him.

"Because you're a man that can get things done, plus you're new in town, and that means that no one in the other gangs will be expecting you. Listen son I know I've been asking a lot of you but I feel that…"

"I'll stop you right there, you don't need say anything."

"Alright, you sure about this?"

"Hell, these last two day are the most fun I had in years."

"I should probably be concerned about that but I'll let it slide. Talk to Johnny in the morning, he'll have something for you to do, the Carnales will take a bit of time to get ready for."

"What about the Rollerz?"

"They'll be last, we don't know much and I don't like that. If they come in lookin' for a fight then we'll give 'em one, but for right now we'll let Lin do her thing." With a pat on Alex's back and confirming smile Julius left Alex at that.

"So haven't seen you around before, you new or something?" Alex turned to see that the one speaking was Lin.

"Yeah, haven't heard? Just moved here from New York."

"So you moved from one god forsaken hell hole to another god forsaken hell hole?"

"More or less, but hey, 'least here there aren't giant monsters trying to eat you." Alex joked, leaving out the fact that _he_ was one of those very monsters.

"Just wait, I'm sure Stilwater will top that."

"So how long you lived here?"

"All my life as sad as that is, You?"

"Grew up in Pittsburgh with a sister and my old man, moved to New York for work." Alex wasn't about to give away information like he went an Ivy league school or that he used to work at a big company like Gentek.

"And now you're here."

"And I'm happier for it, I mean where else in the world can you go out on the street and shoot a guy and everyone just goes on with their day?"

"Well you got me there…" The sound of Lin's phone interrupted their conversion. "… oh shit." Lin said after looking at the text she just got. "I gotta go, the stupid mechanic I left my car with want's me to take a look at something. Well I'm sure I'll be seeing you at some point if you don't get killed." Lin said as she walked away. Alex then turned back to the sound of Johnny whistling.

"You so want in to those pants." Johnny joked as he walked over. "And I'm pretty sure Lin wants to get into yours."

"Yeah, chicks really dig the 'won't give a second thought to murder' kind of guy." Alex joked back.

"I hear that, I got my own woman trouble. See you tomorrow." Johnny said before leaving the church. Alex having had enough _social_ interaction for the day walked home but became worried when he saw the door to his and Dana's apartment wide open. Alex rushed in, only barely able to keep his claws in, which was good since he saw that Dana was perfectly fine, albeit smoking pot with a half-naked guy.

"Dana? Uh, how was your day?"

"Oh, hi Alex! You're home."

"Yes…. yes I am. Mind telling me who this guy is?"

"Name's Tobias… how come you didn't tell me you were off killing people; we could have had a raaaaaaaaadical time." The man said in a normal stoned out way.

"Because I had no idea you even existed."

"Right on man, right on." Tobias said as he nodded though Alex wasn't sure if he even understood what he said. "Anyways, I gotta go meet with my Friend! Billy!" Tobias said as he left the apartment.

"Who the fuck was that?" Alex said as he shut the door.

"That's the guy I, umm... told you... about… hey, your head is, like, massive."

"Okay, now I _need_ to try whatever you're on right now."

* * *

The warehouse doors opened to admit Ragland and William Sharp and the two stepped inside.

"Here we are, I've owned this property for years now, and all it's been used for keeping my nephew's _toys_ clean." Sharp said disdainfully as he and Ragland walked through the warehouse, and it was indeed filled with several top-end cars. "This will be where you work, I'll make sure that you are equipped and supplied properly."

"My thanks, Mr. Sharp. I appreciate all the resources you are putting in to me."

"It is of little consequence to me, the list of equipment you gave me is not even a dent in my funds. The money you'll save me on medical fees for my men, however, will be a considerable return for the expenses I put in to you."

"I still thank you for your kindness."

"Yes yes, alright boys time to move my nephew's playthings out of here." Sharp said pointedly to the Rollerz that had accompanied them. The Rollerz glanced at each other with worried looks, but ultimately began doing as Sharp ordered. By the time the third car was moved out of the warehouse, Sharp's nephew Joseph Price burst in, anger burning behind his shades. The man himself was legitimately imposing

"What the fuck is going on, why are you taking all my rides out?!"

"Because Joseph, we require this space to be more than your toy box." Sharp said as if explaining things to a particularly slow child.

"The fuck you say? And who's this?"

"This is doctor Ragland; I have hired him to work as our in-house doctor. Now, when your boys get scraped up or get knee burns they'll come here and get fixed up."

"You know you're not as funny as you think you are."

"Well regardless of your unique sense of humor, this warehouse is now being used for a more productive purpose." Price looked over Ragland and gave out a deep sigh.

"If it's for helping my boys then I guess I'm cool with it."

* * *

It had been a shitty morning for Alex. No coffee, no box of doughnuts, no full complimentary breakfast bar and hot towel. He was looking forward to the day when he could be living the way he could be with what he could do. Alex walked into the church still tired out from last night's festivities with Dana and a bag of really good weed. One of the Saints pointed him to where Johnny was.

"Oh man, you look like shit." Dex observed from the corner behind Johnny.

"Piss off, what else is new?" Alex replied irritably.

"Take a seat, man." Johnny said pushing the chair across from him out for Alex. Alex lazily sat down not in the perfect mood to appear as his normal aloof self. "So you're Julius' new boy, huh? You don't look like much. Then again, I don't look like I have an eight inch cock, so I guess we're both full of surprises." Alex simply held up ten fingers in response to the Asian man's statement. "Whoa… I like this guy. Anyways the Vice Kings are named after one guy; Benjamin King. That shit don't happen unless you're a professional or a bad ass, and in King's case, he's both."

"Then I guess the two of us have a few things in common." Before Johnny could come back with a response his phone rang.

"Hold up….. Aisha, what a pleasant fucking surprise. Whoa, slow down. Okay that's not slower that's louder. Shit, where's she headed? Don't worry, I got this."

"What's up?" Dex asked.

"Some motherfucker's grabbed Aisha's sister right off the street."

"Shit man, that's the sixth girl this month. We know who's doing this?"

"Yeah, the Vice Kings." Gat said hurriedly

"No way man, kidnapping ain't King's style."

"Maybe that slut Tanya is goin' behind King's back, don't know, don't fuckin' care. Aisha said they were driving a yellow sedan. Tail those bitches back to wherever they go and get those girls back." Johnny ordered to Alex.

"Alright, good as anything else for a morning exercise…" Alex mumbled as he walked out of the room. Alex quickly got in one of the Saint's cars and found the sedan that was his target, it wasn't that hard to find given the color. After about fifteen minutes of tailing they arrived in the Rebadeaux neighborhood. Alex parked the car just far enough away to avoid being spotted, but he could still see the Vice king drag a girl out of the car and into the building that he had stopped at. The building was well boarded-up and most likely any permanent neighbors were used to the screams by now. Alex saw this as an opportunity to finally cut loose, and he walked the way to the door that the Vice King had gone through before politely knocking The door opened just a crack.

"What you want motherfucker?" the gangbanger behind the door angrily said before getting quickly killed by a shot to the head through the crack. Alex kicked the door open and after walking in closed it. The other Vice Kings that heard the gunshot all ran towards the door but were horrified by Alex's exposed claws and cold smile.

"All right… let's have some fun." The first three Vice Kings weren't even able to make any sort of defense as they were cut down before their mind could even understand just what was in front of them. The next five did somewhat better, taking a few shots at Alex's general direction, but none hit their target and they were cut down just like the first three. The last few Vice Kings were able to at least hit Alex a few times before being diced by his claws. "Okay, the morons are dead. If you're are a kidnapped girl then scream out like whatever teen dream boy is famous right now is in the room!"

"That's not funny! Get us out of here!" a voice came from the door in the back of the building. "The guy with the key went to Tee'N'Ay."

"Don't need keys when you can pick locks… but then again I really do want to go to a place called Tee'N'Ay."

"Just get us out!"

"Okay okay." Alex filled the lock with viral tissue to simulate the shape of the key and was able to unlock the door. "Ta da." He said monotonously before opening the door and escorting the girls back to his car, gunning down the few Vice Kings that showed up. The ride back was easy enough and after a few thanks from the girls Alex walked back into the church to Johnny's room to find who he assumed was Aisha.

"God, you haven't changed at all, have you?" the woman said angrily as she walked up to Johnny.

"Well not all of us have a couple million dollars to make changes." Johnny answered back with his own share of hostility.

"It's always the same shit with you."

"Oh, here we go again!"

"What did you want me to do? Did you expect me not to take my shot?"

"No, I expected you to remember where you came from."

"Oh, fuck you Johnny!"

"Fuck me? Fuck you! You're the one who ran off to be famous. The only time you remember who we are is when you want something."

"My sister was kidnapped!"

"And I brought her back didn't I?"

"No, he did." Aisha pointed at Alex.

"Hello." Alex said playfully while waving his hand.

"Bullshit, I told him to do it. No offense." Alex simply just shrugged, as far he was concerned this was their business and wanted no part of it, other than to add a witty remark or two.

"Look, if you're gonna to help me, help me, but don't you dare try to hold it over me."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine." After a tense second the two sat down. "Relax man. I'd like you to meet Saint's Row claim to fame. This… is Aisha. And tonight we're going to kill her."

"Okay, I had this really good idea that involves butter, a hundred sticks of dynamite, and a raccoon."

"I can't tell if you're fucking with me or not." Johnny said completely on board with whatever this plan might be.

"No! No raccoons, he was _definitely_ being melodramatic." Aisha said in a tone that brooked no argument. "See, I'm signed with Kingdom Come Records."

"And it's no secret that the label is owned by the Vice Kings."

"But the real deal is that once you're in you can't get out. They rip you off left and right, and they extort you to stay signed. I've talked to Johnny and he said that you might be willing to help me."

"Check it out; Eesh has a recording session in a few minutes. That's when we make her disappear and give the Vice Kings a nice _fuck you_ while we're at it. I want you to take Aisha to her session, but on the way stop at the chop shop to have your ride loaded up with some C4. Park the car at the studio and get the hell outta there. Eesh, make sure someone sees you before you jump our."

"Johnny I really appreciate…"

"Whatever, I was gonna blow that place up anyway."

"Well let's get moving…" Alex said as he and Aisha got up and walked out of the church.

* * *

Haga Atshushi washed his face in the Project's restroom, he was not having the best of days. As the head of the Human Improvement division of Project Olympus it was his job to… well, improve on the human form. He had four different doctorates and yet that didn't stop the mocking from his so-called peers. He splashed his face one last time then grabbed a paper towel. After wiping his face he left the restroom, and as he walked down the hall he could hear the whispers and even a less-than-hushed-conversation. As he entered his division's workshop the comments ceased, at the very least his own division respected him.

"Doctor Atshushi, the Commander wants a report on the subject by tonight." Atshushi assistant piped up as he walked through his lab.

"Tell Bismarck that I will give him a full report tomorrow morning, I will even hand him the report myself but we are going to be pulling an all-nighter. The other divisions have been calling for blood given how long we held Goliath in our lab. They want it bad, but they can't have it."

"Of course sir." The assistant moved off while Atshushi moved towards the viewing platform over the caged viral monster. At this point, the chains and the cage were pretty much unnecessary as the creature was currently very much brain dead. The strange thing was that Blackwatch didn't cause that condition, it happened about a few hours after the beast started its attack.

"How's it going short stuff?" A voice came jovially from behind Atshushi, eliciting a groan.

"What do you want Greth?" Hubert Greth was the head of Toxins and Cancers.

"Just came to see Goliath. The thing is _massive_ isn't it? I doubt you'd get enough off it to do your experiments." Greth asked trying to poke at Atshushi's rushed mind.

"I don't have time for you right now, please leave." Atshushi said bluntly focusing on his desk work.

"Aw, but don't you want to hear the latest gossip?" This made Atshushi head flip back up though he kept his straight face. He truly did loath Greth, but his word was law when it came to rumors.

"What's going on?"

"They are saying that the commander _might_ think that it _might_ be possible that Zeus could _maybe not_ be not living."

"Zeus is alive?!" Atshushi said, showing more happiness than he knew was acceptable in Blackwatch.

"Yes…" Greth said smugly as he had noticed the outburst of problematic emotion over the news their greatest enemy was alive. "… the idea that Zeus is alive is completely ridiculous, no one can survive being blown up in a nuke."

"If anyone can it would be Zeus." The young scientist said with something akin to hero worship.

"That is true… that's all… I hope that when it comes time to recommend a division to give over Goliath, you think of me."

"Funny, seeing as how I try so hard not to everyday of my life." Atshushi said as Greth walked away.

"How could a sixteen-year-old be in charge of a Blackwatch research division?" Greth mumbled to himself as he left the lab.

* * *

Alex was waiting on bench outside Kingdom Come Records looking at his phone as he watched a timer count down. When it hit zero he mashed the trigger in his other hand and watched the car in front of the building explode causing the structure of the building to crack and crumble, inflicting massive damage to said building. Alex sighed and smiled at the sheer destruction.

* * *

Julius was sitting at the table he had set up in the back of the church thinking over everything he had seen and heard about his new boy. Alex… he hadn't even learned his last name. The man was a complete mystery, all he really knew was that he lived in New York, he appeared to be a loyal member of his gang, and he had a sister. That was the bit of information he was planning to use. After the meeting last night he had a Saint follow Alex to his home to find out where he lived. At the moment he was waiting for Troy so they could go talk to Alex's sister together. He wasn't sure if he should do this. Then again, it wasn't like they were going to hurt her…

"Hey Jules, you ready?" Troy asked as he entered the room snapping Julius out of his deep thought.

"Yeah… let's get moving playa." Julius got up and the two drove to Alex's apartment. "Now listen Troy, we're here to get answers, not to hurt the girl, got it?"

"Don't have to tell me twice, I don't wanna be the one to piss Alex off." At that Julius knocked on Alex's door. Moments later, after a few noises and the sound of many locks unlocking, the door opened just a sliver.

"Who are you guys." A woman's voice came out from the apartment.

"Yeah, is this Alex's place?" Troy answered.

"Who wants to know?"

"Don't worry, we're from the Saints, Alex is one of us." Julius said trying to keep Alex's sister from slamming the door. What surprised Julius was that the door opened revealing a fully grown woman with nothing but pants and a bra on.

"Oh, It's you guys? Well come on in, you basically own Alex now so I guess you own his place too." She said walking back into the apartment, it was clear that while she didn't like the idea of Alex being in the Saints she was indifferent to Julius and Troy.

"Alex doesn't belong to the Saints, he's part of it." Julius said with an awkward smile while Troy was trying to hide his staring at Alex's sister.

"Damn… Alex's sis is hot." Troy whispered to Julius.

"Remember how brothers and fathers feel Troy." Julius whispered back.

'Oh…"

"You two make yourselves comfortable." Alex's sister yelled out from the micro-kitchen.

"Thanks." The two quickly sat down while Alex's sister brought them both a beer. "Thanks again, my name's Julius. This is my boy Troy."

"Hey." Troy nodded, still trying to avoid getting caught looking at the woman's breasts.

"Dana. You two are the reason why my brother lost his job when he only worked there for one day, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for that. Alex will definitely be getting a cut once the money starts rolling in."

"I don't really care that he lost the job, I just didn't like the great ape that came to my door asking why was Alex messing with him about a job if he wasn't even going to show up for the first day of work. Enough about that, why are you two here now?"

"We just wanted to ask a few things about you and Alex." Dana seemed to tense up at this.

"Why?" Dana said, it looked like she was trying to keep a look of panic away from her face.

"It's just that most of my boys have been in the Row since they were little, and you two seemed to just drop out of thin air."

"So you just want to know more about us. That's all?" She said suspiciously.

"Yeah." Julius said carefully, since he knew the signs of someone on the run. Dana looked off towards the window and then to the door. She took a deep sigh and sat down in the nearby chair.

"What do you want to know?"

"I guess the basics first." Troy asked.

"Me and Alex grew up in Pittsburgh, we're both adopted and were raised by our father all by himself. He worked as a school counselor and wrote books on the side. Alex went to college and earned his doctorate in Biochemical Engineering while I majored in journalism."

"Hold the fuck up. Alex is a fucking doctor?" Troy asked in amazement while Julius just listened.

"He's not anymore, he was at a drug company and got caught doing… something he never told me what. So he moved in with me in New York he was trying to find a job when the whole shit storm started." This was all lies, Dana in no way was going to tell them what actually happened.

"So why'd you come to the Row, why not go to some other drug company or work for the Cartel or something?"

"Alex and I are on the run from the really bad people that smuggled us off the island, you know, mob people. We hijacked the boat they were using and made our way here. I know a guy from Stilwater, and it seemed like the best place to hide."

"She's not wrong there, who would look for anyone in this shithole?"

"I think I get it now…" Julius said eventually as he stood up. "… Thanks for helping us understand." Julius nodded and pulled Troy out of the apartment with Dana locking them out.

"Well that was helpful, I guess." Troy said, still blushing faintly.

"She's hiding something, but we at least now know our boy Alex is on our side."


	5. How a Virus Finds Pleasure in Others

After wolfing down three burritos, five tacos and eight beers, Alex made his way back to the church only to find Johnny and Aisha gone. A note was stuck to the table saying that they were enjoying lunch, though on the back of the note in what he assumed was Johnny's frantic scribbling was the word "fucking!". Alex shrugged and began his way out of the church.

"Hey!" He turned to see Dex run up to him. "Is it true that ya blew up Kingdom Come Records?"

"It was Johnny's idea, I just pressed the trigger." Dex sighed in disappointment at this.

"Fine, come let's get work on something that won't be so 'Johnny Gat' ". Dex motioned Alex to follow him to his workboard. The entire thing was well-assembled from Alex's perspective. "Alright, the Carnales were the first organized gang in the city. The way Julius tells it they owned the whole damn town until Benjamin King stepped up against them. Tell ya what though, I ain't worried about their history so much as I am the fact that A: the Lopez brothers are crazy motherfuckers, and B: Victor, their enforcer, survived a dozen VK drive-bys." At this Alex turned his full attention to the picture, the idea for a normal human to have survived a dozen shootings was unlikely to say the least. "Sounds pretty bad right?" That caused his attention to snap back to Dex. "Now add that the Carnales are back by the largest drug cartel in the world, and I think you'll understand why we're gonna play this safe instead of pulling a Johnny. We cut off their income first, _then_ we go for Hector."

"You seem to have your bases covered, exactly how are we going to take out their income?"

"First we're gonna to have to take out their labs in the Mills and in Cecil Park, we do that and we cripple their production. They'll have to rely on what they bring out of Stilwater or what they make in their factory which I have a plan for but more on that later, right now head over to the labs." Alex nodded and left the church. He drove up to the lab in the Mills first and was observing the place before going in, it was far to open for a hack and slash, too many chances for someone to escape and blab. So Alex pulled out his gun and made a slow walk up to the lab. One of the Carnales yelled out something in Spanish but received a bullet to the face for his trouble. The other Carnales immediately started taking shots at Alex, he moved out of the way for the shotgun shells but didn't bother with the smaller rounds. Shocked by their target soaking up bullet after bullet, the remaining gangsters were easy pickings and soon fell dead. Alex walked through the open door and continued his killing spree, viciously moving from room to room. The last four Carnales quickly died by a shot to the head each. As Alex was about to take a potshot at the lab equipment, he had an idea. Alex got out his phone and called Dex.

"Yo, what'cha need?"

"I'm here with my gun's barrel on the drug making stuff… I was thinking we take this shit and use it ourselves."

"That could work… I call up the boys to see if we can lock the lab down."

"I'll take out the other lab right now, I'll see you later." Alex hung up and put his phone away. It was a ten minute drive through traffic, and that made Alex want to peel onto the sidewalk and mow down pedestrians like a madman. As he pulled into one of the parking spaces of the warehouse that held the other lab, a Carnales came over to Alex while he was in his car. After tapping on the glass with his gun he asked what was Alex doing here. Alex just rolled his eyes and shot the man in the head. This caused a few people to yell and scream as they ran from the ensuing fire fight which was over in five shots from Alex's pistol. He calmly walked over to the door and began to slowly pull it open. Once he got a view inside, it only took a minute for him to finish off the last few Carnales. After inspecting the lab equipment, Alex casually strolled outside, but before could call Dex he saw that Dana had texted two words: "COME HOME."

"The only evidence we have is this crash site, and a slide of blood." Commander Bismick stated to the good doctor. He regarded Atshushi with his highest respect, but the scientist's interest in the Blacklight virus was troublesome. He preferred to think that the doctor's admiration for the being known as Zeus was like a child to a comic book hero.

"That's all… the slide of Blood is from Zeus?"

"It is, it was found within a mile of the crash."

"But you don't think Zeus himself….

" _Itself…_ Zeus is an _it_." Bismick corrected rather harshly.

"You don't think Zeus itself escaped the island by the helicopter?"

"No… more than likely it was someone close to Zeus, perhaps its host's sister or the people who helped it during its time on the island. We are investigating just who these people are. Now that your curiosity has been satiated how is your research on the Goliath?"

"It is going well… I am curious though, who do you think may have escaped, a best guess?"

"Best guess… sister is a certainty, but we suspect either one or two more. Still, I require a more detailed answer on your research."

"Tests are being done on its muscle and bones, why three people?" Doctor Atshushi was clearly enjoying this game he was playing. Bismick was not, so he decided to terminate it.

"Doctor… you give me a full report on your research and I will put your name on the receiving list of all information concerning this matter." He watched Atshushi's face for any hint of what he was thinking. It was clear that he wanted to continue his fun, he may be a genius but he was still just teenager after all.

"That's fine. The muscle structure and chemistry on Goliath has the most opportunity to be used as the base of new research. While it is not nearly as refined as Hunter muscle it is far more… manageable as it contains more human-based Biomass. The bones on the other hand are very hard to get to, due to the depth of the muscle. We were able to cut through once, and only for a few minutes before the incision regenerated. From what we saw the bones are built less as skeletal support, since the muscle is strong enough to accomplish that, another reason we are more interested in the muscle, and they are more of an expanded nervous system to compensate for the size. The larger the creature, the slower the signals move along the neurochemical pathways. So despite the fact that the creature is very dependent on the hive mind, it still requires the expanded system to move effectively. The bones are a perfect example of the viral evolution system, all of these intricate adaptations in one being."

"It's why Blackwatch exists, why it is one of three great threats to humanity."

"Yes yes… we hold the red line. It is our duty to always hold the Red, Black, and Blue lines of the Long Watch." The scientist recited blandly.

"You need to sound more respectful when talking about such things when in the presence of others that are less forgiving."

"Sorry."

"Just remember for next time, you are an important asset but certain people will not tolerate any disrespect towards our mission."

"So all they asked you was about our past?" Alex said, a bit agitated by the news of Julius and Troy's poking around his life. Even so, he knew it was simple curiosity and this was to be expected due to his sudden appearance.

"Not exactly, they just wanted to know more about you. My guess is they were afraid of you for _some_ reason." Dana said, eyeing her brother suspiciously.

"Hey! I've been a good boy, I haven't shown my _toys_ to a single soul." Alex said dropping onto the couch. "Much as I wanted to….." he mumbled.

"Well, I gave them a fake story on how we got here but I told the truth on everything up to when you joined Gentek."

"Fine by me. Ah Gentek, you may have been evil but your chilly dog Tuesdays were the best."

"That's…. not funny. So how is the life of a street gangster?"

"It's fun so far."

"It's not fun for _them_." Alex looked at Dana confused. "That guy Julius, this is _real_ for him. It's real for all those guys out there wearing purple. I still think it's all stupid and pointless but it means something to them, and if _they_ get filled with bullets they can't get up to do it again the next day." Alex thought about her words for a moment then held out his hand for a beer. After an audible groan Dana retrieved a beer for her hedonistic sibling. Alcohol in hand, Alex furrowed his brows and placed his fist under his chin.

"You're just doing that to be funny right?"

"No… this is my thinking face."

"You've never done that in your life… Alex, I'm worried about you. You've changed. Drastically."

"Yeah… that's what happens when you become part flu, survive hell, and take a nuke to the face."

"All I'm saying is that people don't change this much even when you go through all that. Before you were serious, you knew what you were doing, and you didn't act like a child." At this Alex stood up and his face turned to one of complete resentment.

"When you are 10 feet from certain death, you start to think about the way you live. When you escape certain death when you know you shouldn't have, you start to think about what you'll do with whatever time you have left, no matter how much there is. When I did escape I wasn't even conscious, I was going off primal survival instincts before I could even make a single thought, but when I did the only thing I could think was I did not want to go through that again. I will never go through that again!" Alex took a deep breath when he saw the beginnings of fear start to take root in Dana's face. "And I will gorge on food, booze, and whores while I still draw the breath of life!" Alex said in a dramatic and comical way to put her at ease as he walked back to the couch.

"I'm just concerned is all, I'm allowed to be Alex."

"I know… sometimes I think you and the old man are the only ones that can feel that way."

Ragland stared through his microscope, he was still waiting on some of the bigger equipment, namely all of it. The only thing he had now was a small table and his microscope, but what magnificent sights shined through the keyhole in front of him. He only needed to see what was under the slide to know that everything was right with the world. His awe was cut short as he heard the sound of the warehouse door opening. He looked up and felt a bit of fear and joy to see Alex walking over.

"Hey Ragland! We haven't seen you in a long time." Alex said as he walked over but was interrupted by a Rollerz member.

"Who are you? The _fuck_ are you doing…" Alex shot the Rollerz not even losing a step in his walk over to Ragland.

"Anyways… what's with the tie?" Alex pointed to the blue tie that Ragland had received from William Sharp.

"This? It was a gift."

"From who?"

"From my benefactor, William Sharp."

"And the reason this William Sharp has Rollerz guarding you?"

"He works as the financier for the Rollerz."

"Right… the next time you see him, kill him." Alex said before walking away.

"What?! Why would I kill my benefactor?"

"Because killing him basically destroys the Rollerz."

"Why on earth would that interest you?" Alex turned around holding up a fistful of his purple shirt, expecting Ragland to understand what that meant. "What does that mean?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that the Saints just started up the other day."

"Saints?"

"I joined a gang. It's been fun so far and it helps me get in good with the locals. But it seems that you joined one too, and the Rollerz don't like the Saints. That means that we are enemies… you know what happens to my enemies."

"Yes I do, but I ask you, as someone who has saved your life and asked very little in return, to disregard this minor transgression." Alex frowned at this but he knew that he did owe the man a great deal.

"I think I will overlook this, however…" At this Alex flashed over to Ragland with his Bio-Sword to Ragland's neck. "I know you have several slides of my blood and if you ever even think of sharing I will do things to you that will make your mind explode… Come to think of it, I might do that too."

"N-no! I would never." Ragland gasped, staring down at the claw, fear dripping from his brow. He would never betray Alex, he well knew the cost of such an action.

"Good, then I don't have worry." Alex pulled his Bio-Sword back under his skin. He began walking back to the door. "I just wanted to check up on you, be sure to hide when the Saints destroy the Rollerz."

Alex was heading back to the Row after his talk with Ragland, the tunes coming from the radio had made car rides a far more pleasurable experience, so much so that he didn't even miss flying through the air everywhere. It also helped that the DJs were more funny than in New York. As he was driving he almost passed Freckle Bitch's, the perfect fast food place for Stilwater, before remembering that he could eat as much as he wanted and never get fat.

Score one for Blacklight's consuming powers!

As he pulled into the parking lot he saw Johnny and Aisha eating, though it was more "Johnny eating Aisha pouting," at one of the tables.

" _Is this what Johnny calls a date? That's just a sad embarrassment to men… okay it's pretty much standard when it comes to men, but that doesn't make this any less of a letdown._ " Alex thought as he got of the car and began walking over to the table.

"Look, I know you're supposed to be dead and all but do you have to look this pissed?" Johnny mumbled around a bite of greasy hamburger.

"Johnny, you said you'd take me out to dinner." Aisha said back, her clothes were still too nice for Saints Row and Alex knew if her death hadn't looked as certain then she would have been found out this morning.

"And here we are."

"No no no…" Alex groaned as he came over. "Tell me that you did not take her to Freckle Bitch's for a date."

"Hey man what's up?" Johnny said trying to avoid answering Alex's comment.

"Nothing much, just that you don't take a lady like this to Freckle Bitch's."

"Exactly." Aisha said happy with Alex's entrance.

"Where else would we go?"

"Someplace good? Why couldn't you have taken me to Mikano's?"

"Okay, just by the sound of that name I can tell there is a snooty-ass host there. And that's where you go wrong, you don't take a guy like Johnny to a place like that." Alex piped up

"What are you, some kind of fucking shrink or something?" Gat said, though there wasn't any anger behind it. He wasn't but he had consumed a few.

"I'm just a guy that wanted a few burgers and saw a crime against love."

"Whatever man, but you do have good timing. I was about to call you up anyways."

"You boys talk, I'll be right back." Aisha said before walking away.

"Forget her man she don't appreciate fine dining…"

"I just explained that-…"

" _Anyways…_ Now I've been talkin' to 'Eesh's sister. Turns out Tanya's been fuckin' people in every sense of the word. Not only is she blowin' King's bodyguard Big Tony, but she's fuckin' Warren Williams, their numbers guy, whenever Tony ain't lookin'. Between Tony and Warren the only person she isn't leading around by their cock is King. So I'm thinkin' we put the hurt on Tanya, we're fuckin' up the Vice Kings. She's got an operation in Prawn Court, that's where we'll start. Roll in there and put the murder on anyone you see, customers included. Who wants to die for a blowjob, right?"

"You right on that… well depending on who's giving it."

"Oh… yeah I could see that." The two men smiled and nodded in agreement and in whatever fantasy was going on in their heads. "Now when you go for Tanya, be careful 'cause she's probably got some muscle in there."

"Alright, I'll be on the lookout. Enjoy the rest of your dinner alone." Alex said as he walked back to his car.

"Hey man what're you talking about… oh." Johnny then realized Aisha had left. After grabbing a few hamburgers at casual gunpoint, Alex was on the road to the address Johnny sent him along with a picture of his middle finger. On the way there he was thinking about what Johnny said about Tanya.

" _Controlling people through sex. Not like it hasn't been done before, and now that I think about with a clearer head that bitch Karen used to pull that card a lot. Control through sex, or at least the feeling… interesting. Sucking off everyone I want to control is out. Nope, besides the fact I don't want to, I have at my disposal the greatest evolutionary tool ever. Still, control. Lots of ways to do that. Fear could be one, but once a big-talking protector comes along, that's a recipe for a mob. I think I'll try the fun method, why not. I usually find somebody with the ability I want and take it, this'll need some trial and error. It's going to be all on my own, I could get it done with enough test subjects. But that might draw attention, I could get Ragland in on this… it worries me that he's on the enemy's payroll but it's not like he knew about the Saints. Hell, I didn't know about them until they were even made. What really concerns me is how interested in Blacklight he seems to be. I guess it could be a good thing, so long as I watch him. And if this idea works I'll be on the road to mind control, that's fucking cool._ "

At this Alex pulled into the back lot of the brothel Tanya ran, using his natural thermal vision he quickly was able to discern every entrance and exit currently in use. He took a few minutes to watch the people in the building move about to try and get some idea of the layout. After he was confident that he had a general idea he walked to the back door. Swiftly picking the lock he made his way in. He closed the back door up and locked it with his own viral tissue to reinforce the door and to make sure that no one could escape from what he had planned. He soon found a Vice King and consumed him knowing it was safe to do so as everyone in this building was already his. As Alex shifted into the VK's form he was able to get a few memories.

 ** _Images of Tanya dragging the VK around shoe shopping while taking on a cell_** "I'm telling you Tony, I'm just shopping. Nothing is going on, I'll see you when I get back. **_Tanya hangs up_** "Can you believe it… don't answer that, let's head over to that store next." _T **he memory fades**_

Completely useless, Alex then made his way through brothel in his disguise, he liked the look of the place. It was somewhat classy and certainly liked the balconies, good way to see over everything. He made sure to go to each of the doors that lead to the outside and lock them with his viral tissue and made sure to cut any phone or internet cords while he was at it. Once he had done so he dropped his disguise in the nearest rest room and made his way to the center and fired a few rounds into the ceiling.

"Okay everyone…" One of the Vice Kings took a shot at Alex before catching a bullet in the forehead. "… listen up. From now on _you_ are all my bitches. Plain and simple." Alex's calm and easygoing voice was chillingly disconnected from what he was saying. "There is no escape, you are all trapped here. This can either be a very good thing for you or a very bad one."

"It's about to be a very bad thing for you motherfucker!" One of the Vice Kings said as he hit Alex over the head with a baseball bat, Alex just snapped his head back and cut the poor bastard in half. Once the Vice King's top half hit the floor Alex casually plunged his Bio-Sword through the VK's head and the floor and began to lean on it in a very relaxed manner. This display earned a cacophony of screams from the people in view. But no one else dared to shoot him. For several minutes the whole place was quiet then one of the customers slowly came up to Alex.

"What are you going to do to us?" Alex's smile at this unnerved the man, it was far too warm and comforting.

"You came here for sex right?" The man nodded but there was a reluctance there that was only overcome by his fear of lying to the inhuman monster in front of him. "Yes, and that's what's going to happen. I'm simply want to find out how to make people feel the same way they do during sex on command. I find myself in need of test subjects, and you can all thank Tanya for this, without her I would have never thought any of it… well I might have but it would have been much later and on very different people." Worried murmurs ran through the crowd, but nobody moved or reacted otherwise. Alex sheathed his Bio-sword and pulled out his phone. "oh and if any of you try and call for help I will hear and I will kill you." Alex yelled back as his phone began ringing then the person on the other side answered. "Julius hey… how's it going?"

"What do need playa?"

"What makes you think I need something?"

"Don't, just don't. I've been around long enough to when someone want's somethin', so whatd'ya need?"

"Johnny told you that he sent me to take Prawn Court?"

"He said something about that yeah, why?"

"The brothel, I want it. Like I own the whole thing and I don't want anyone in it." There was a silence before the sound of Julius sighing.

"You can have the brothel, you just have to tell me why you don't want anyone in the place."

"Wow… you give up rather quickly."

"Consider us even for getting you fired."

"Oh yeah… I had a job. Anyways I've got something cooking up and I just don't want anyone to know about it until it's finished. You are just going to have to trust me on this."

"Alright, fine. I tell the boys the place is off limits. I'm trusting you on this one."

"You won't regret it, and by the way, if you want to know more about me just ask. I don't need to be thinking about Dana being interrogated while killing VKs."

"She told you huh, okay. From now on I'll come to you, so long as you'll tell me everything."

"Sure, I'll see you back at the church." At this Alex hung up. "Okay that's taken care of, now for the other thing." Alex called up another number. "Ragland! I have a research opportunity here."


	6. Who Wants to be King

Benjamin King was not happy. Waiting for Warren was grating on his nerves. Tony had gotten to the boardroom even before King, and he did appreciate the fact that he was often early to this kind of thing. It made it easier to respect a man with such poor taste in women. The loss of Aisha was not something he had expected, least of all for it to be caused by Julius' new crew.

"Sorry for being late." Warren said he entered the boardroom. "They wanted me to be there when they went over that fucking mess of a building." That was an acceptable answer, so King let his lateness slide. Warren moved to sit next to King.

"How much is this Studio incident gonna set us back?" King said in his deep commanding tone, he still felt good every time Warren tensed and straightened up when he spoke.

"The incident? I'm sorry. I thought some motherfuckers blew up my shit. I didn't realize it ain't no thing." Warren said putting King back in his unhappy mood.

"How. Much." King said to put the boy down. This worked and Warren sunk back into his chair.

"Including the loss of revenue from Aisha's death… I'd say we're talkin' millions." This was not good, King had always liked Aisha, she was a girl from the streets and was at most times easy to work with. The loss of both her and the money that went with her was a blow that was ill-timed.

"Okay. We got a few contractors that owe us, convince them to hook us up. That takes care of the building. As for Aisha, throw together some memorial box set, market it in the months leading to her funeral. People eat that shit up. Should recoup some of our losses. How's Tanya's side of things?" King was apprehensive to bring this up but it had to be done.

"Grip is short, Mr. King." At least Tony was respectful when giving bad news.

"I'm not happy Anthony. You said she could handle it."

"It's not her fault Mr. King, the Saints have been fuckin' with her." Once again Julius' crew, King began thinking that maybe he would have to do something after all.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Warren said standing up. "Are you gonna let those **bitches** disrespect us?"

"Everybody calm the fuck down. We ain't gonna start a war every time some motherfuckers act hard."

"We gotta talk about the Saints." Tanya said as she walked through the boardroom.

"Thank you." Warren said as he sat back down.

"Hey baby…" Tanya said as she moved in to Tony's lap. King did not like the woman, all he could foresee was her bringing trouble, but said nothing out of respect for Tony. "They've taken Prawn Court."

"How did this happen?" King said like he didn't know, it was clearly Tanya's foolishness.

"How the fuck you think it happened? Look, we need to get together here and just- "

"What we _need_ is for you to shut the fuck up, you feel me?" King said standing up to regain control of the room.

"Yeah…"

"What?!"

"Yes, Mr. King." That was better, King needed Warren to be under control, the kid showed promise but was too untested. King sat back down now that Warren was put back down.

"I'll have Monroe put some pressure on the Saints. While they're distracted, it should be easy to take back what's ours. Everything else is business as usual, understood? Now, this meeting is over." King looked at Warren to make sure that the boy didn't say anything more. The three others soon walked out of the boardroom leaving King alone. King pulled out his cell and called a number. It took a while for the person on the other side to pick up, but he did so before the phone went to voicemail. "I'm only going to ask this one time, are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's not that I _want_ to, it's that I _have_ to." Julius answered back. "You said the same thing."

"I guess I did. But you know I'm not going down without a fight."

* * *

Ragland had entered the brothel just a few minutes ago. He was looking over the railing to the corpse on lower floor. It was completely cut in half, clearly Alex's work.

"Ragland! Good to see you again, how long has it been?" Alex said as he walked over to the doctor.

"A few hours, you said you had a research opportunity?" Ragland hadn't been given much information other than a street address.

"Yes, mind control! The "how" is debatable, but the goal is the same. We're here to find a way to control humans through the Blacklight virus."

"Mind control… it may be possible." Ragland was intrigued by the prospect, it would certainly make hiding from Blackwatch all the easier.

"I have thought up two ways we might do this. The first is the most likely of working, we condition humans using stimuli, either fear, pain, happiness, but my favorite is sexual stimulation."

"I could see where you would come to that, but I have a feeling that you didn't come to that conclusion via logic or any other kind of reason."

"Maybe, maybe not. The other idea I have is the harder but could be more effective. Direct control, where we either passively or actively take full control from the person. I see a passive way to be like this, we start with one human and over time the human begins to see our way of thinking as the right one. A more active would be to turn a human into an organic robot completely depended on the hive mind." From his tone and clinical descriptions, Ragland quickly saw how Doctor Alex Mercer excelled as a Gentek scientist.

"Your theories sound… possible, it would take an immense amount of research and many subjects, they would have to be live ones too. Something like this could never be done on corpses."

"I know, that's why I kept the people here alive, they are all trapped. So are you willing to go along with my plan?"

"Yes, it seems possible if we can overcome a few obstacles. The first of which is the delivery of any form of strain we want to use as the means of control. Next is to develop a strain that won't kill the target and, even harder, remain unnoticed."

"Right, the kind of control we go for will be meaningless if we can't even deploy it."

"The best option we have I think is to directly infect someone with a control strain, rather than have some form of mass infection."

"That would work best for the conditioning and active but I think due to the slow progression of the passive idea I think we could work something out."

"We first need to start working with the most diluted strains possible, the ones that have the least severe effects. That should get us to a strain that would work as a base."

"Good idea, how do we do that?"

"I'll need more of your blood, then I'll use one of your captives to make something I have theorized could work as a factory of new strains of the Blacklight."

"Okay, right here is where I get concerned."

"No don't worry, so long as the subject is in an airtight location the danger will be zero. I will use my benefactor Mr. Sharp to build a space in my lab, then I will be able to create new strains until we find the one that works for us and destroy those which do not." Alex looked over Ragland carefully.

"This seems a bit convenient, how exactly did you come up with this?" Ragland seemed to slightly shake with fear. He knew that to lie to Alex was basically asking to die when it concerned Blacklight. Ragland turned away and began cleaning his glasses, he had always done this when admitting something.

"During my studies of your blood, I noticed that when subjected to a state of near-death the genetic traits of a Blacklight strain would begin to change randomly, likely as a survival mechanism. I hypothesized that such a thing happened when you were almost atomized by the nuclear missile. It didn't take much to adjust the reaction from changing itself to producing the changed strain as a new one."

"Huh… and why were you basically trying to kill me?" Ragland looked back at Alex with fear but mostly confusion. "It sounds like you were trying to find way to successfully kill me." Alex's eyes pierced through to Ragland's very soul, or at least that's what it felt like. Ragland had never felt the sheer amount of fear as he did at this moment.

"No… not at all… I simply was… trying to put your blood under different conditions." The words left his month but how they did so he had no idea, his mind should have been far too terrified to put together simple sentences.

"Is that all?" For what seemed like an eternity there was a silence. "Some good came out of it, so I'll let it slide. But all your notes that aren't critical to the creation of this… _Fountain of Strains_ , I want them destroyed."

"Done." Ragland felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

"Now, get to work on this new source of strains. Remember that I don't want anyone to know what we're doing."

"Yes, of course."

"As for me, I'm going to enjoy the fact I have…" Before Alex could finish that sentence his phone rang, he recognized the number as Johnny. "What's up?" Alex answered.

"Hey man I don't know if it's quota time or what, but the cops are leaning hard."

"We're a _gang_ , that's what happens."

"Nah, I'm talking more than normal, listen shit's too hot right now. Julius wants everyone off the street… hold on." From the sounds coming from the other side of the phone it seemed like another Saint was in a rush to tell Johnny something. "What? You're kiddin' me. Those fucking cocksuckers! Change of plans, it looks like the Kings are trying to get back Tanya's old digs as we speak."

"Well I'm here, they can try but they're going to die pretty fast."

"Now that's what I like to hear." Johnny said before hanging up.

"What happened?" Ragland asked.

"VKs are trying to take back this place, looks like we just got a new shipment of subjects courtesy of Mr. Benjamin King."

* * *

Dana had finally hit the cables she needed to set up her network. After a bit of digital spoofing and routing she was able to secure a stable line to the internet. She had always been more tech savvy than Alex ever could be, he may have been king in the lab but on the net was where Dana excelled. She was soon able to set up a stealth worm in the bank accounts of people she knew wouldn't notice and moved the funds to a new account under their landlord's name, he would never know that he would become a millionaire in the next few weeks. Dana knew that if that amount of money moved too quickly then someone would notice. She was currently trying to find out about the situation in New York when she heard the door get kicked down. Dana grabbed a nearby gun that she kept for this reason, but when she heard one set of footsteps she knew it couldn't have been Blackwatch. She looked around the corner to see one man wearing a purple skullcap.

"Uh, hey?! Trespasser!" Dana yelled from her room.

"Yo… this is where Alex lives right?" The man said as he walked further into the apartment, ignoring the smashed lock.

"Yeah…" Dana got up from her network and after putting on a shirt went out to see this intruder. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm sorry, Julius wanted everyone off the streets and since I live on the other side of the Row I thought I could stay here until the heat is off. My name's Carlos by the way." Carlos held out his hand but Dana just stared back. "Okay… but where's Alex, I was hoping to meet him."

"He's not around much, off playing with you all. So how long are you going to be staying here?"

"Until the cops quit messin' with us."

"That could take a while… wanna smoke some weed while we're waiting?"

* * *

From the owner's office, Alex looked over his new test subjects through the cameras in each of the locked bedrooms. He had to admit that Tanya's original idea of catching people on video to blackmail them later was a good one. The cameras helped can watch over his prisoners. The Vice King reinforcements had been taken care of easily, he just let them in and they were trapped. He did have to put on another show of power to the new inmates but once that was out of the way things moved smoothly. Ragland had just left with the subject that would become the _Fountain of Strains_ , he smiled at the nickname. Alex's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of his phone.

"Hello-o-o-o…" Alex sang out.

"It's Johnny, you done takin' care of those VKs?"

"Yeah, they aren't going to be problem anymore."

"Why am I getting the feeling that you didn't just up and murder them… y'know, doesn't matter. Listen up, we got more work to do. Troy just got a tip that Tanya's setting shop in the old Sunnyvale Police station. I talked to Julius, and he gave me the okay to go in with a crew. I'm headin' back to the church to get strapped. Come over when you're ready, but don't wait too long, we got some murderin' to do." At that Johnny hung up. Alex looked back at his phone thinking over what he had just heard. He then looked back at the screen of the feeds from the cameras. Alex sighed knowing that he was going to need to put his fun on hold, but the idea of a nice murder spree with Johnny helped. After mentally checking the viral locks, Alex left his brothel and drove back to the church where he quickly found Johnny and a lot of firepower. "Good thing you're here, I was about to leave without ya." Johnny said as he looked over the bat in his hands. "I don't think I'm feeling the bat today. This is always the hardest part for me… ya know, balancing stopping power with personal enjoyment." Johnny said before tucking away a pistol in his back pocket.

"Amen to that brother." Alex said as he sat down in front of Johnny. Alex was also going over the arsenal in front of him. He was going to be in front of Johnny and other Saints, he couldn't use his powers, it was fine when everyone that saw them was going to die but not out in the open and not in front of Saints. Alex's eye turned to the shotgun on the corner of the table but when he reached out he found Johnny was also going for it. "Well this is a problem… we can't both be matching, be downright embarrassing." Alex said jokingly but hadn't moved his hand.

"I agree, so maybe you should grab something else." An intense glare was shared between the two, but it was one of brothers who wanted to play with the same toy. After a moment of silence Alex pulled back.

"You have it, I'll just keep to my piece."

"Appreciate it man…" Johnny said as he took the shotgun. "oh yeah,I'm feeling this one. It ain't gonna be easy clearin' all those VKs outta the station, so I told my crew to meet up there. Now let's ride."

"Let's get moving, I really want to meet this Tanya chick. From what you told me it seems like we could have some fun." Alex smiled savagely at this comment as the two hopped in Johnny's car.

"I don't want to know what's in your head right now but Tanya lucked out the last time you took over her brothel… this time the bitch is gonna get what's comin' to her." The two began driving to the old station. "After we take care of Tanya I want to go after Big Tony. You listen to Julius and the guy sounds like he's a fucking APC, well I'm looking forward to taking him apart." Johnny said as they pulled in front of the station.

"Hey…" Alex said as he threw a switchblade to Johnny. "Just in case."

"I think this is going to good bonding experience for the two of us." Johnny smiled as the entered the firefight. The two men entered the station with a loud kick to the door and several shots from their guns. They quickly eviscerated the many Vice Kings that were in the front room then after Johnny's crew came in to hold down the front door, Alex and Johnny led the charge through the rest of the station. Killing many Vice Kings on their way to the second level, they moved through the hallways and room while continuing their slaughter of yellow-garbed opponents. Johnny mostly was blowing heads off or taking gut shots while Alex held a bit back but was still just as effective. As they neared clearing out the station, they reached the back end of the building that the Vice Kings had been guarding. Alex and Johnny gave a nod to each other, both knowing that Tanya was back there. They both ran into the room and pointed their guns at the woman but she just gave back a look of disinterest. Alex quickly felt why, with his enhanced senses he could hear Tony come up behind him, but he couldn't react due to Johnny being there. Tony quickly bashed the back of his head with the butt of his shotgun and, thinking quickly he fell down like it had actually hurt him. Alex couldn't show anyone what he could do unless they were going to die by his hand soon after.

"How about you drop the gun, honey?" Tanya said condescendingly.

"If I was you, I'd listen to the lady." Tony said in the deep voice that Alex had imagined a person with the name Big Tony would have.

"Well of course you would, you being her bitch." Johnny said, not lowering his gun an inch.

"Watch your fucking mouth."

"Whoa, -cough,- strike a nerve there?" Alex said, still on the floor.

"You shut the fuck up too!" Tony said cocking his gun threateningly.

"Hey, no reason to be hostile." Johnny said as he dropped his weapon. At this Tony began checking for any other guns and once he found the pistol he took it and threw it over to Tanya.

"He packing anything else?" Tanya asked as she caught the gun.

"Just some rubbers, I was hoping to get some of William's sloppy seconds." Johnny said deliberately trying to aggravate the two Vice Kings. He succeeded perfectly by making Tony knock him down next to Alex.

"Do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up. You 3rd Street motherfuckers think you so smart. Well check this out, we ain't impressed. Hell, the only reason you got this far is because King let you."

" _No, I'm pretty sure I'm that reason._ " Alex thoguth with a small nod to himself that no one saw.

"We led you right to where we wanted you and now the police are going to finish your ass off for good just the way we planned."

"Well that explains why your bitch lost Prawn Court." Johnny said back.

"Are you going to let him talk about me like that?"

" _The more I hear from Tanya the more I just want to shut her up, preferably in a way that would involve some form of using her mouth in a more productive way._ " Alex thought and then began thinking over various ways to do so.

"Don't worry baby I got this." Tony said as Johnny began to get back up

"Yeah Tanya, shut the fuck up."

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" Tony demanded as he kept his shotgun on Johnny.

"I got shitty hearing." This got Johnny a shot in the left knee. Johnny dropped down to the floor screaming, holding his injured knee.

"Now you got a shitty leg." Tony said as reloaded his gun. In response, Johnny stabbed Tony in the foot with the knife Alex gave him.

"So do you." Johnny tackled Tony. "Go, now!" He yelled out to Alex. Slightly conflicted at the moment, Alex was caught up in the emotion and did what Johnny said, running past Tanya, shoving her over while he was at it, and jumping out the window. Alex could hear the brutal smacking noise of Tony beating on Johnny as Tanya made a few shots on him, but he quickly ran past the building's corner for cover.

" _Fuck! Did I just leave him there?! I'm fucking Alex Mercer! The fucking Blacklight Virus, I shouldn't run from a fucking cocky gangbanger and his bitch._ "

Alex quickly found Johnny's car and peeled out towards the church. But after he turned his first corner he heard the sound of several police sirens. Alex gunned the gas and a car chase began playing out on the streets of Stilwater. Alex was slightly amazed as he drove around trying to shake off his pursuers, shocked that something like this was happening. He twisted and turned through the cars and streets, but soon his patience wore thin and he rammed the car into a brick wall at full speed. That crash would have killed a normal human, but once the cops came over to check on his body they were met with a shot to the head. Alex crawled out of the wreckage.

 _"Fuck… Johnny is not going to be happy I ruined his ride."_

* * *

"Trust me, He ain't goin' nowhere." Tony said over the speakerphone. King was happy with the news Tony had just given. His crew needed this victory, more over Warren needed it. The little nigga needed to be shown that the Saints could be dealt with smartly.

"Damn good work, Tony. I'll stop by after I pay a visit to Hughes." King said.

"I'll see you soon boss."

"So what do we do now?" Warren said as he paced over the news.

"We wait." King said trying to teach Warren what to do in a situation like this.

"Hold on, dawg, that motherfucker is still out there. The fuck you mean we wait?" The fact that the Saint's enforcer had escaped did worry King. He had never seen or heard of the man that the rumors called Alex, there wasn't a last name to go with the first. He did like the fact that Julius was so willing to let in people from outside the Row, Julius himself was from Sunnyvale but at least Julius had been living in the Row for the past few years. Returning his thoughts to the problem at hand he looked back at Warren. He needed to double down on keeping Warren in line.

"I mean, you're going to sit your black ass down and wait cause I fuckin' said so." King said in an even deeper and commanding voice to emphasis his words. "Don't worry 'bout the one that got away, the 5-0 will take care of him."

"Oh, so while you loungin', Tre Street keeps jackin' us. That's great, that's… that's fuckin' brilliant."

"Slow up little nigga." King wanted to see the reason for the doubt Warren had, was it doubt in King or himself.

"Come on, King, this is some bullshit. Let me get a crew together. I could roll into the Row and drop all them bitches." Good, the man was doubting himself and not King, the former he could work with but the latter was something he could not tolerate. "I'm telling you…"

"No." King said flatly.

"But Mr. King…"

"I said no. Don't make me say it a third time." King saw that he needed to fix the doubt in Warren for the time being until it could be fixed in a more permanent manner. "Warren my man, you got the music scene locked down. I need _you_ to bring the cheddar, not get shot cause you think you got somethin' to prove."

"I can do this!"

"Maybe, but we ain't gonna find out. We got the cops bustin' up 3rd Street for us, and we got Julius' lieutenant tied up in Anthony's condo. Everything's goin' our way right now, so just chill." This made Warren think things over and King could see it in his eyes. "Your time gonna come, Warren. It just ain't happenin' now. Understood?"

"Yeah, we straight." Warren said as he came in for a handshake. King was unnerved but the slight hesitation Warren had, it was just for a moment but it was there.


	7. What You do for Freinds

Alex walked into the church, anger flooding his mind. He headed straight to the back of the church, which had become something of Julius' office.

"What are we doing to find Johnny?!" Alex demanded as he walked in. Inside were Julius and Dex, already sitting and looking like they were working on a plan; Aisha was standing over by the candles most likely just there because Julius wanted to help keep her stable.

"Calm down son, we're workin' on it." Julius said not wanting to see Alex angry, he had seen quite enough of what the man could do calm, he didn't want things to get worse than that.

 **"That's not good enough!"** Alex growled and slammed his hand down on the table. "I left him there to die! If there is **any** chance he's alive, I **need** to be the one to rescue him." This outburst was supposed to be fake to keep up Alex's image as an impulsive newbie to Julius and the other Saints, but he was surprised by the fact that the more he thought about what he had done the more the act turned real.

"I see where you're comin' from but we need you to cool the fuck off." Dex said earning him a glare from Alex. "You and Johnny goin' in cowboy style is what got us in this shit."

"Sit down son and just listen." Julius asked. Alex complied and sat down in a chair with a huff, still giving off waves of agitation and anger.

"Now, we have an idea on how to get Johnny back, and if you can keep yourself in control… I'll let you be a part of it." Julius said and Alex returned with a nod. "Alright, tell'em Dex."

"The shit Johnny said about Warren and Tanya really got to Tony. Now, the only time she's allowed out of his sight is when she's checking on the rebuilding of the recording studio."

"Every day, that bitch gets driven to the construction site in a limo, then sneaks off to get her freak on with Warren before she goes back home to Tony. While she's busy suckin' cock, you deal with the chauffeur and take his place. When she's done wiping her mouth, she'll have _you_ drive her back. Once you're at Tony's, it's all up to you."

"I like the sound of that." Alex said with a savage grin that made Julius worry. "You think Johnny's at Tony's?"

"I'm sure of it, I know King. He trusts Tony more than anyone, If King has Johnny locked up _anywhere_ it's with him."

"Alright, I'll bring him back to the Row." Alex said as he got back up.

"Alex, please, bring Johnny back." Aisha said walking up to Alex. "Just don't tell him I was worried."

"You can tell him yourself when I bring him back."

 _Did I really just say something that cheesy?_

Alex walked out of the church and got into the stolen cop car. His choice of vehicle would have made him laugh hysterically in any other situation, but right now he was focused on saving Johnny. The drive to the destroyed studio was short, this was due to Alex ignoring all rules of driving. It took a great amount of willpower to not jump in the air and fly to the studio to consume Tanya, but that would raise questions and attention he didn't need. He watched Tanya get of the limo, yell at the workers, then disappear into the construction site. Alex hurried over to the limo and climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Hey, you can't be in-HGLRK!…" Alex consumed the driver without missing a beat before calmly waiting for Tanya to return.

* * *

Dana was laying on the couch while Carlos was going through the apartment's fridge.

"Don't you have _anythin'_ beyond beer and leftovers?"

"It's not like we have any money; you Saints don't give out paychecks." Dana was bored, her programs were working their financial magic, but she knew she couldn't use any of the stolen money without a cover story. She needed something illegal to launder the money through with no record, just so the locals wouldn't get suspicious.

"Shit, sorry if you guys need help getting by, you looking for some cash?"

"Why do you care?"

"Your brother, he's the reason I'm in the Saints. At first it was just _mi hermano_ , but when he told me about what Alex did to the Vice Kings and Los Carnales I headed to the Church to get my flags. The least I could do is help out."

"Fine… I guess I could use a helping hand. Alright, let's go, I have a friend that can give us something." Dana got up from the couch and Carlos followed her to one of the cars Alex had stolen which they drove to a nearby junkyard, fighting over the radio station all the way.

"You think you can steal from ME?!" Dana and Carlos could hear screaming and gunshots from outside the junkyard. "You think you can fucking rob ME?!" The former walked in calmly, but the latter trailed behind with his piece drawn. It was then they saw Tobias standing over a dead man… whom he was still furiously shooting. "You stupid. Fucking. Backstabbing. Piece of **SHIT**!"

"Wow… you sure don't like that guy." Dana mildly said to Tobias.

"Hey, Dana, what a surprise! What's up?" Tobias said, completely devoid of the anger that gripped him a moment ago. "Sorry 'bout the mess, Billy here thought it would be a good idea to skim off the top…" Tobias put another shot in the dead body. "...and, well… let's just say he was wrong."

"Had he even met you? How could he have thought this would end any other way?" Dana knowingly laughed. "So Tobias, me and my friend were looking for work, you got any hookups?"

"Well, Billy _used_ to watch my back on deliveries, but I don't think he's gonna make it in today. You make sure my deals go through, and I'll make sure you and whoever this guy is get hooked up real good."

"Great, you got any guns?" Tobias looked at the trunk of his van before opening it to reveal a veritable armory ,filled with all the instruments of death anyone could ever need or want.

"This answer your question?"

* * *

Alex had just dropped off Tanya at Tony's condo. As he watched her get close to the door, he was debating in his head whether or not to climb the face of the building with his bare feet and hands. Nah, too attention-grabbing. So naturally, he climbed out of the limo, walked up to the condo and, after sucker punching Tanya into unconsciousness, strolled through the front door and into a waiting hail of gunfire. Like any gentlemen, he shut the door behind him before walking calmly through the many shotgun blasts and and bullets to one of the dining room chairs and sitting down. The army of Vice Kings continued to take shots at Alex, destroying the entire upper portion of his chair as well as the table in front of him, but soon the storm of death slowed down to a stop. Tony rushed at Alex's exposed back and blew the invader's head off with a Tombstone.

"About time you died, freak. You punks can get this piece of trash out of my…" Tony stopped and watched in horror as Alex's head began to regrow the parts that had been blown off. First was the bone of his skull, drops of dirty white building on themselves like an overlapping river, holes filling in until the wound was healed. Next came the intertwining strands of muscle tissue. Finally, skin crawled over the exposed red of the muscle. Alex cracked his jaw back into place once this was all finished and then sighed with a mild glare.

"I'm not happy… I like Johnny, he's a fun guy to be around, a psychopath, but it takes one to know one. Here's what's going to happen, you are all…" Alex moved his finger around the condo to illustrate this. "… going to die, that is going to happen but you…" Alex's finger stopped at Tony, who was quaking in his shoes. "… are going to die _slowly_." The screams that came from the condo were nothing short of hellish, they were all quick and loud, all except for one that went from screams of defiance to pleas of mercy. When they finally ended the carpets and walls covered in blood and human remains, with the exception of the room that held Johnny. Alex shook the blood off his claws before retracting them back into his hands. He calmly stepped through the crimson puddles and piles, the sheer horrendous display of carnage, without a second thought and made his way to the room holding his friend.

"Hey, not to be pushy or nothin', 'about you get me out of this fucking chair?!" Johnny yelled out to Alex as he walked in. The former genetic terrorist was really happy Tony had sprung for the sound proof bedroom since Johnny looked to be completely ignorant of what had happened outside. He was soon freed from his restraints and helped to his feet. "Now where's that sunovabitch Green?"

"Yeah… about that, Tony took a little dive off the balcony."

"Shit, I wanted to put a few holes in the bastard myself but hey, if you…" Johnny trailed off after he saw the state of the condo. "Holy fucking… did you do this?"

"Look man, you can't tell Julius; he's already concerned about me."

"Shit, Julius is concerned about how I do things too but this takes the fucking cake." There was a silence as Johnny looked around, taking in the brutality of it all. "One thing is for sure, you beat me as the biggest psychopath in the Row… maybe the whole damn city."

"So you won't tell?"

"Hell no, you're on our side. Just because Julius doesn't have the stomach for the hard shit doesn't mean you should be thrown out."

"Thanks Johnny." Alex was surprised by Johnny's willingness to overlook something this disturbing, then again maybe the man was crazier than he previously thought.

"Now I heard Green say that he's got some heavy shit in the back. We need to get this place cleaned up before I have some of our boys roll on over and bring the hardware back to the crib. I'm thinkin' garbage bags, hacksaws, a fuckload of bleach, and..."

"Johnny!" Alex interrupted. "You need to get back to Aisha at the Church, I can handle the cleanup." he said, remembering how he needed the biomass.

* * *

Ragland sat in his lab looking at the clean room blueprints Mr. Sharp had sent over. The doctor was able to convince his benefactor that in the case of either him or someone important receiving a critical injury, they would need an air- controlled environment to avoid any infection. Mr. Sharp quickly agreed, perhaps out of concern for his own life and health but he agreed nonetheless. The plans showed a decent sized room in which the subject could be stored. Ragland had created a smaller version the size of a shoebox and was now about to test his theory on a small rodent.

"Carefully…" Ragland mumbled as he injected the modified Blacklight virus into the mouse. The black liquid slowly entered the rodent, and once the creature had finished with the initial screeching and sounds of pain from being infected it calmed down. Ragland breathed a sigh of relief. "Subject seems to have stabilized." Ragland picked up as recorder. "Subject thirty five is a success, and after an initial ten seconds of pain the virus has stabilized. Subject has since returned to normal with no visible-…" Ragland stopped speaking when he noticed blood beginning to drip down the rodent's face. He looked closer. "Correction, Subject appears to have developed _one_ side effect." The doctor watched as the blood kept flowing from the unfortunate animal's eyes. Ragland wrote down a few notes but as he did his mind drifted back to the fear he felt when Alex had accused him of trying to find ways of killing him. " _How could he think **I** would be disloyal?! I have saved him many times and he accuses me of treachery!_ " He then felt a bit of the mind-numbing fear creep back in. It was something he did not like, this feeling of complete and utter powerlessness. He needed to show Alex that he wasn't the only one with power, he needed to do this so he would be seen as an equal and someone that would never betray him. He looked back the rodent and a plan began to form in his mind.

* * *

Johnny limped back into the church before finally landing on one of the pews.

"Oh fuck… that's it… yo 'Eesh! I'm not walking any more." Johnny yelled to the back of the church. A second later Aisha came running out before looking at him with a mixture of emotions. She immediately slapped him, then fell down on the pew to embrace her boyfriend. "Oof! Easy, I'm still not fixed yet." Aisha gently released him, then got back up and walked over to Alex.

"Thank you for bringing him back."

"No problem… but we need to get him a doctor soon. I know one that'll patch him up for free if I ask."

"Nah man, I got a guy in Chinatown that owes me a few favors. I'll be fine."

 _I should still check on Ragland to see how's he doing._

"Well if you say so, I'm going to check on a friend of mine…" Alex turned back to Aisha. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid until that leg's healed."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that."

"Yeah, I have a feelin' my recovery time will involve lots of mandatory _bedrest_." Johnny said while wiggling his eyebrows. Aisha just sighed out of embarrassment and his rescuer gave back a nod of approval. At that Alex left the church and drove to Ragland's warehouse and after consuming the Rollerz guard walked in.

"Ragland how's work coming along?" Alex announced as he came in.

"Oh Alex… you're back." Ragland said, but his tone had something in it that Alex couldn't explain. "Work is going well. I have been able to successfully produce a live test subject that holds the potential for becoming… you called it a Fountain of Strains, correct?"

"Yes… a nice play on words. Where is this subject?" Ragland pointed to the dead mouse in a small glass case. "That fucker's pushing up daisies."

"It died of blood loss, a side-effect is that the subject will bleed out from the lower half of its eyes. The flow is thankfully slow, so when we are ready for human testing all we will need is a supply of the correct blood."

"That means our new friend will have a built in weakness that we can use to keep them under our thumb. Blacklight really is the gift that keeps on giving. How contagious is the subject?"

"Very, we will most certainly need the clean room. The blood that comes from the eyes is volatile and highly infectious."

"Well… just make sure that whatever you do to prevent an outbreak triple it."

"Of course, naturally… now if that's all I need to get back to my work."

 _Was that sass? Something is wrong with the doctor._

"Ragland, is there something you haven't told me?"

"Nothing at all."

* * *

Atshushi looked over the captured hunter, it had taken to the new injections of nanobots well. A few shocks and no more rampaging. He was glad that increase of brain power not only improved their pack mentality by also caused them to feel pain. They could now be trained like dogs, but this only worked as long as they saw the person controlling them as their Alpha. So far this meant that only Blackwatch super-soldiers could lead the hunters. The super-soldier template had not changed much, mostly because no one wanted to ruin them. It had been ten years since their development and they had not received one alteration or improvement.

"Harris, how many hunters have we trained at the moment." Atshushi asked his assistant.

"At last count it was nineteen. With the addition of the shock bots, training time has been almost cut in half."

"Good, how is project Hercules moving along?"

"Goliath's muscle tissue has been successfully replicated outside Goliath's body. The clone tissue has a ninety-one percent match with the original."

"That is… it's fine. Use the original as much as possible. We only have access until tomorrow, so use what we can until we can't."

"Yes sir, can I speak freely?"

"This lab is a place of science; you may always speak freely." Atshushi felt he needed to speak plainly in order to keep his staff from turning on him just like his so called peers did.

"Thank you, sir. What I wanted to ask was why are we doing this? We killed Zeus, why should we continue with this research?"

" _Why indeed, I have my doubts on Zeus but why are we still operating as if we are still at war. The clean up at New York is progressing well and yet… it is as if we are working towards a different goal entirely."_

* * *

Two weeks had passed by since Johnny's rescue. The Saints during that time solidified their holdings, making sure to push back the Vice Kings and the Carnales trying to regain their territories. Over the weeks that passed, the inner circle of the Saints had organized two successful assaults on Vice King strongholds but the third had ended in the capture of several Saints.

Alex was currently sitting in his personal car enjoying two large pizzas and five different sides while observing the abandoned police station. He had gotten the car when the Carnales tried to take back the Mills, it was a La Fuerza, he had killed the driver before deciding he liked the look of it. He took it to one of the chop shops and after a bit of _convincing_ he was able to get a good deal on some custom work. The car now had a polished jet black paint job with purple tribal pin-striping on the hood and side. He had every part under the hood upgraded with the loudest, beefiest hardware in existence. Even paid full price for the purple seat covers. Alex stared on to the police station. This job held personal importance behind it for him, it was where he had run away and left Johnny to Tony. He was now going to unfuck his record by saving the crew and taking the place for the Saints. As finished of the last slice he opened the door and got out.

 _Note for next time: No more olives, double mushrooms, and extra hot sauce on the wings._

After a few stretches Alex walked up to the door to the station. "Okay cue the music." Alex tapped on his phone and played Kiss of Death by Alec Empire on full blast over the speaker. Alex kicked the door down as the song started up. Before the Vice Kings could react, three were shot in the head in rhythm to the music filling the room. Alex continued his rhythm-attuned slaughter, only firing a shot when it kept up with the song. To raise the stakes, he only reloading at appropriate intervals. By the time the song had reached its finishing moments Alex had put a bullet in the head of the last Vice King. "That was fun indeed. I need to do this more often." Alex walked down the flight of stairs to the jail cells. "It's your lucky day boys…" Alex said in a southern accent. "… warden's letting you out early." He drawled as he unlocked the cells. The Saints ran out patting Alex on the back and giving him fist bumps as they did so. He watched as they left then went up to the room that Tony had ambushed them in.

 _Damn… I'm never going to fucking leave a friend behind again. Johnny didn't have to get caught, I could have sliced them into bite sized… am I going to eat people? Not consuming, eating. Would I go that far… I want to say no, but... Anyways long drawn out soul searching yada yada yada… and…_

Alex walked over to the corner and picked up the knife he gave Johnny which was used to stab Tony in the foot.

"I'm going to get this back to Johnny."

* * *

Ragland looked over his prize. He had grown fond of Alex's name for it, the Fountain of Strains. The name fit quite well. The human that held that title was a wonderful piece of work, a mere heroin junky elevated to something greater. The initial infection lasted a bit longer than the rodent's. After a full two days of non-stop agony, the virus had adjusted to the body and the pain subsided. The side effect of ocular bleeding still remained, but the sensation wasn't felt. Alex was able to keep Ragland supplied with the right blood type via a contact at Stilwater Memorial, and Ragland kept the subject happy with a steady infusion of heroin.

"Completely fascinating… this might be it." Ragland said as he looked at the new strain of Blacklight. It was by far the most docile of the strains. Through his tests it caused no physical mutation and the only physical side effect was it caused all test subjects' blood to turn pitch black. "This could be the one we are looking for."

"Hey doc… when's my next fix." The subject mumbled, he hadn't even a clue what the man's name was.

"You will get it the same time as every day at four thirty." Ragland dismissively called back at the subject. The Fountain of Strains did just what he had theorized it would do. After the modified Blacklight stabilized in the subject, it would start producing new versions of Blacklight when the subject was near death. Fortunately, overdosing on heroin fit those conditions perfectly. Ragland would give just enough to induce cardiac arrest, and once he did so a new strain of Blacklight would form in the subject's blood. Retrieving it was easy, with only a hazmat suit and an air tight container required as the blood flowed out of the subject's eyes. "This one is it, I'm sure." Ragland was quite pleased with himself, he now had one of the key components to enact his plan, all he needed now was to modify this strain into what he needed. That, and someone to wield it.

* * *

Alex looked over at his opponent, he knew those cold dead eyes and he knew them well. His hands wanted to shake but through sheer willpower he forced them to remain still. He would not show fear. He would not give in and lose this battle.

"Come on! Either fold or raise the pot!" Dana demanded as she slammed her fist on the table.

Alex sighed. "I fold." He threw his cards down, it was a pretty good hand too, a flush, but he knew Dana's tell. She always got impatient when she had a sure thing. Alex looked around the table to the faces of disappointment. Troy, Dex, and Johnny, they all had no idea how smart he was for getting out now.

"Damn, I never knew you were your little sister's bitch." Johnny laughed while he looked over his hand. "I raise to fifteen dollars." Julius had started poker night for the Saints inner circle to help Johnny keep in touch while recovering, but when he found out how much they were betting he ordered them to a dollar limit.

"I call." Troy said before throwing his money in. "So how'd the station job go?"

"It went well, got our boys out and picked up a little gift for our resident psychopath." Alex said smiling.

"No way, is it what I think it is?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm too busy being my sister's bitch to remember."

"Oh, quit being a shithead and tell me already."

"Fine… here." Alex stabbed the table with the knife.

"Ah thanks man. Now every time I shiv some fucker in the face I'll think of you."

"Hey!" Dana yelled out. "If you ladies could quit with that shit, we're playing poker here remember."

"Hey, never interrupt two men bonding over tools for killing." Johnny said looking actually hurt by what Dana said.

"Yeah, what is wrong with you, didn't your parents ever teach you manners." Alex said with a completely straight face on.

"Alex we were raised by the same man."

"So that's a no…"

"Come on Dex, you're the only one left." Dana said ignoring Alex's stupidity. Dex looked at Dana, trying to judge what she had. He thought over Alex folding, and the way she was acting but also his hand, he had four queens. The only way she could beat him is if she had a straight or royal flush.

"I rise the pot." Dex said before putting his money in the pot.

"I got a straight." Troy said as he put his cards down.

"Shit! I'm out." Johnny said as he threw his cards down.

"Johnny if you had such a shit hand why didn't you fold?" Dex asked with disappointment in his voice. "You know what, doesn't matter, because I win. I doubt you could beat four sixes." Dex said to Dana as he dropped his hand.

"Oh yes I can! Read them and weep." Dana announced as she laid down her royal flush. All the men but Alex groaned as Dana raked in her winnings.

"I think we're finished here." Dex said as he stood up.

"No come back…" Dana said gloatingly. "… and lose some more."

"Troy, Alex meet me at Freckle Bitch's tomorrow morning, I have everything set up to take the Carnales' drug factory." Dex said before leaving the group.

"See you tomorrow morning then." Troy said before also leaving the church.

"I guess I should go too, 'Eesh gets worried when I stay out late. Thinks I've fallen and can't get up." Johnny said as Alex helped him and Dana brought his crutches over to him. "See you guys next time." the Saints lieutenant said as he moved out of the church leaving only Dana and Alex.

"This was nice." Alex said as he reclined on one of the pews.

"Yeah, I agree, and not just because I won. I'm starting to warm up to these guys."

"Thinking of joining up?"

"Not a chance, I don't need the shooting and gangbanging…" Dana's face turned dour. "I really think we should contact dad."

"I told you Blackwatch is most likely watching him, besides you know the old man. He probably already knows where we are. It fucking creepy how he pulls that all-seeing thing."

"I know that, I just think he has the right to know. He saved both our lives." Alex grunted at this. "Alex, your parents dumped you day one, if he hadn't found you then you would be dead."

"I _know_! I know… but maybe we send a letter, a real letter. Blackwatch is keeping tabs on his e-mail."

"Thank you. Who knows, maybe he _won't_ come running when he finds out you're a fucking gangbanger." Alex grunted even louder at this.

* * *

Alex was walking over to Troy and Dex who were planning their move on the Carnales. So far he was in a good mood. He had a good breakfast, a foot-high stack of pancakes, ten sausages, eight pieces of toast, four oranges, five glasses of milk, and one fiber bar.

"Nah, they'd just see it coming. Cops try that shit all the time and it never works." Dex said to Troy over a map of the Carnales drug factory.

"Shit, you're right. Well, what should we do then?"

"We got a plan yet?" Alex said as he walked over.

"Almost… fill him in Troy."

"I got a lead on where the Los Carnales cut all their shit."

" _The_ Carnales." Dex corrected Troy.

"Wha?"

" _Rio Grande River._ Jesus." Dex sighed, Alex nodding in agreement, he understood where his irritation was coming from. Saying "the" before "los" was redundant.

"What the fuck?"

"It's not THE Los Carnales, it's just the Carnales. 'Los' means… fuck it. Like I was sayin', we're not gonna raid the factory quite yet."

"Why not?"

"Cause I'm not a gun toting psychopath named Johnny Gat. We all saw what happened to him when he cowboyed up."

"Fair enough. So what's the plan."

"One of my boys called and said they saw a truck with a heavy LC escort leavin' the factory district. It's probably loaded with drugs, but that's just a bonus, our target is the truck itself. I need it brought back to the Row in one piece; it's no good to us blown to shit."

"What do you need the truck for?"

"Trojan horse." Alex answered, having tuned in to the plan.

"Exactly, we use the truck to get in and then BOOM! We take the factory. But this is all pointless if we don't have the truck. So why don't you two go _get_ that truck." Troy didn't look happy but he followed Alex to his car.

"Here's the plan; get me to the truck so I can jack that baby." Troy said as he got in to Alex's car. "Once… oh god, this place is shithole." Troy said as he covered his nose. "The outside looks cheery but oh fuck."

"Yeah… here." Alex pulled out a gas mask. Troy quickly put the thing on.

"First off, if you have this thing then you know that it's shit awful in here."

"Yeah."

"Second, why the fuck is it like this?"

"You saw it from the outside, now no one will try jacking it." Alex couldn't see behind the mask but he could feel the angry stare of reluctant understanding.

"Whatever, let's just get the truck." Troy slammed the door behind him and they drove off onto the highway to hijack the Carnales truck. "Yo man, just between you and me I was fine with cleanin' out the Row, but getting into this drug shit ain't cool."

"Why the fuck not, drugs are fun and they line our wallets with green."

"Yeah but it brings the heat down on us. And it's not really helping out the Row in the long run."

"And what is your long run?" Alex asked, his voice completely serious.

"What… I dunno."

"Then shut up about it. I have a long-run plan myself and drugs may or may not hold a big part, so for right now just focus on destroying the Carnales." Troy didn't respond to that and the rest of the ride was quiet but for the radio. When Alex had driven up to the truck Troy quickly got out and under Alex's covering fire was able to reach the truck without worrying about the Carnales. Alex kept a close watch out for anyone else, a few came but they were killed quickly. Soon, the truck was escorted back to the Row, but the ride was a bit difficult since the original owners really wanted it back. Still once they reached Saints territory it was smooth sailing.

* * *

Hector was nervous, he didn't show it but he was. The Colombian sitting at the table always did that to him. Hector needed to show the man strength but also cunning. Without this man, the Carnales efforts on the war with the Vice Kings, Rollerz, and now the Saints would crumble before his one good eye. So when this recent news had reached him he needed to take action.

"Angelo, I need you to go the lab tonight. One of our shipments didn't arrive, and I want to make sure no one's skimming off the top." Hector said showing that he didn't take such actions lightly.

"No problem." Angelo said, Hector knew he could count on his brother when it to everything but one thing.

"Angelo-o-o-o-o, you promised we'd go shopping tonight." There was that one thing: Luz. While Hector thought the woman was competent and there was no doubt in his mind as to the reason why his brother choose this woman, she had a tendency to make his brother make mistakes. Even so, they were not on purpose so Hector voiced none of those thoughts… mostly.

"Ah shit. Hector, I told Luz I'd take her downtown. Can Victor take care of…"

"Is Victor sitting at the table, Angelo?" Hector gestured towards his enforcer. Hector knew he owed half of his successes to Victor. The man was a tank and a beast. He kept the fear in his men and had kept the VKs at bay many times.

" _Si_." Angelo answered.

"So if I wanted Victor to handle it, I could have asked him, right?" Angelo shook his head in defeat.

"Luz, we'll go out tomorrow."

"But Angelo…"

 _"Coño Luz, cállate la boca,_ okay _?! ¿No me oíste?_ " Angelo replied, irritably telling his girlfriend to shut her mouth.

"Gracias.' Hector said to his brother.

"You should be nicer to the lady." The Colombian said to Angelo.

"Yeah, Angelo, _métete la verga en su boca, eso la callará_."

" _Véte al carajo, bruto!"_ Luz yelled in response to Victor's crude insult.

"Luz, come on mama, don't be so sensitive." Angelo said. Even Hector knew that was never something a man should say to a woman to get back on her good side.

"I'll be inside." Luz said before she started to walk towards the door.

"Senorita, a moment. If Angelo is busy, I can take you out tonight."

" _Yes, the woman can help us win over the Colombian, maybe she won't be such a useless bitch after all_." Hector thought.

"Mr. Orejuela. I couldn't…" The woman said one thing but the way she squeezed her bikini said another .

"Nonsense, it would be my pleasure." The Colombian turned to Angelo. "Unless you have a problem with me entertaining the lady…" Angelo leapt up angrily, but with one look from his brother he sat back down.

"No…. of course not."

"Good. I'll see you at eight." The Colombian said before turning back to Luz. She smiled and walked back into the villa. "That's a lot of woman you got there, Angelo."

" _Sí, **lo sé**._ "

"Eh, I always thought she was a bitch." That one slipped out. Victor laughed but the Colombian and Angelo just shared a glare for each other. The moment was interrupted by the sound of Hector's phone. "Hold on. _Sí, ¿Qué? Qué pasa?_ " Hector said as he answered the call but what he heard sent him into a burning rage.

"What is it?" Angelo said as his brother began screaming in Spanish back into the phone.

"That did not sound encouraging." The Colombian said. Hector needed to regain control of what was happening in front of him, he could not appear weak.

"Everything is fine." He hurriedly said.

"Of course it is." The Colombian muttered sarcastically as he stood up. "if you would excuse me, I'm going to check on the _señorita_."

 _"Ese viejo sucio maricón, yo le mato si le toca a Luz!"_ Angelo responded to the man's comment with several threats in Spanish.

"Angelo… you are my brother and I love you, but if you let your dick fuck things up with the Colombians I'm going to cut it off." Hector was serious, this deal could change everything and he was not going to let his brother ruin it.

"Forgive me Hector." That was good.

"Don't let it happen again."

" _¿Y qué fue eso?_ " Victor asked, wondering what was wrong.

"Those pendejos in Saint's Row are the ones who took the shipment. With the Colombians arriving, we can't show any weakness."

"The Colombians are already here."

"All the more reason to settle this now. Victor, Angelo… gather your men together. It's time to tear Saint's Row apart."


	8. Viral Romance

Alex was waiting in line at a hotdog stand. It was one of his favorites, the mustard was the best part, really spicy without having too much actual heat. He was currently enjoying a nice day off. Johnny was still healing up and Dex was working on the truck so nothing was really going on with the Saints. Ragland was still developing the new strains to work the way they wanted to. Alex had thought about helping out with that but decided against it. He was going to enjoy this day. He might even find some beach and test his water limit. Alex smiled as he moved up to get his hotdog but before he could get his order five red cars came riding into the street led by a massive Humvee. Alex instantly knew what was about to happen and quickly shoved the guy manning the cart under it. He wasn't about to lose this awesome spot.

Pouring out of the cars were members of the Carnales, they began firing on anyone wearing purple and every bystander that got in their way.

"Smoke these fuckers!" Alex yelled out to rally the Saints. They cheered back, and they knew that with Alex they couldn't lose. The Saints quickly returned fire at the Carnales, pushing them back behind their cars. The fire fight quickly turned from an ambush driveby assault to a defensive shootout. Just as the tide turned in favor of the Saints, a colossal musclebound Hispanic man with a tightly bound pony tail stepped out of the Humvee. With a yell, he shoved two of the cars out of the way as he charged over to one of the Saints. The Saint shot the man three times, and he just shrugged them off like it was nothing as he hoisted the Saint into the air. He let out a threatening shout in Spanish, but before he could make good on it Alex body slammed into him.

"Victor Rodriguez. I've been meaning to meet you." Alex said as he held Victor down on the ground with his boot on his face. "How does a man live through gunshots like that?" He moved his boot to Victor's neck to allow him to answer. He just spat in Alex's face. "Well… you have guts, I'll give you that." Alex said as he wiped his face. Suddenly, Victor jerked up, launching his opponent onto his back.

He quickly went on the attack and punched Alex in the face with all his strength, expecting the pendejo's head to explode and cause the rest of the upstart Saints to run screaming. To his own horror, not only did not happen but Alex's head gave back a fair bit of resistance.

"I know that punch." The man growled out before lashing out and punching Victor in the gut. Victor couldn't understand the feeling of having the breath knocked out of him. As he dropped to the ground, he was pulled back up by his throat. "Listen to me carefully." Alex said in a voice that could only come from the devil himself. "I know you're Blackwatch. I killed so many of you fucking super soldiers I lost count, so many that I know that there is small hole at the base of your neck that is meant to be used as a kill switch." Alex turned to a Saint. "You, come over here!" The Saint nodded fearfully and carefully moved over to the two fighters. "Good, now, hold your gun right here." Alex pulled the Saint's hand with a gun to Victor's neck. "Hold him right there and the moment he moves from this spot shoot him." The Saint nodded furiously. "Good." Alex walked away from the two and finished executing the rest of the Carnales. Three purple cars led by Dex's convertible rolled up and stopped a few feet in front of the group.

"Damn, I was thinkin' I could help you out but it seems that you already finishin' up." Dex said getting out of his car. "I just came from the Church, Angelo thought he could burn the old dump down but… yeah we weren't havin' none of that shit."

"Good job. But I think I got you beat." Alex pointed to Victor still under gun.

"Fuck… you captured _Victor!_ You seriously are the best thing Julius did for the Saints." Dex said happily. "So…. what do you want to do with him?"

"I have some questions that only he can answer. If it's fine with you, I'd like to take him to my place."

"Are you sure? I mean what happens if he, you know… escapes?"

"He won't, trust me." Dex shrugged and Alex walked over to the Saint who he could tell was scared shitless just being this close to Victor. "You can go, I got this." The Saint nodded and ran away. Alex stared down at the super soldier. "I know you speak English, so save me a headache and just talk to me like the American like I know you are."

"You are wrong." Victor said in heavily-accented English.

"You're ex-Blackwatch, they only take in the boys from the red white and blue."

"They do for their men, but not for their test subjects." Alex was quiet at this, then after a click of the tongue he pulled Victor up and escorted him to his apartment. As he pushed Victor through the door Dana came out from her room.

"Who the hell is this?" Dana demanded.

"This is Victor, he was the Carnales enforcer and he was former Blackwatch test subject. Come over here. Take this, and ri-i-i-i-ght…. there." Alex put Victor on the couch and moved Dana in the same position he had the Saint in, holding a gun to Victor's kill spot. Alex grabbed a folding chair they had in the apartment and sat on it across from Victor.

"You going to stare me into talking? I will give you nothing. Hector has been too good to me for me to betray him."

"I know, but you giving me information isn't betraying him, not really. All it's doing is speeding up his death." At this Alex pulled out his claws. "Even you should know what this means." Victor sat unflinching but he jerkily nodded. "Exactly what are you to Blackwatch?"

"I was part of the final round of tests for their super soldier project. The Monzon Cartel sold me and my unit for what I was told was a ton of cash. Blackwatch needed strong and experienced men for their test subjects. So they bought us. Their stuff worked, they made me and a few others but once they were done, they decided to kill us all. They didn't use the kill spot, they just gassed us. _Gringos de mierda_ didn't even want to dirty their hands on us." Victor spat in anger. "I survived and woke up in a ditch in the desert. I found my way to a town and kept a low profile. About a year after that, Hector's father found me and took me on as his enforcer, once Hector took control I just stayed on."

"Your story sounds right, Blackwatch killing off any unuseables certainty fits their MO. But what's the next chapter now that you have been caught, what is in store for this tale's hero? Will he die at the hands of what is literally biological perfection or will he come to his senses and work with said wonder of science?" Alex intoned, moving his claws closer to Victor's face.

"I told you before I ain't giving Hector up."

"And as _I_ said….. he's already dead. That is not going to change, you can't kill me. Blackwatch couldn't kill me and they **really** tried hard. But I have a feeling you don't want Blackwatch to find me because if they do they find you in the process."

" _Sí, usted tiene que apoyarme en una esquina_."

"Yes, I have. Hector is on borrowed time. Think about it, with me in the Saints they are guaranteed leaders of the pack. You drop your flags right now and work for me, I can keep you safe and well-fed… like a loyal pampered dog."

"Alex, that's not nice. You want him to help you." Dana sighed.

"Fine, you will be well compensated for the information." Victor thought this over, he was now about to make a choice that would decide if he would draw any breath in the next hour. What the man in front of him said was true, Hector was already dead. It hurt him to know this, but not much. He had always kept a distance in his mind with people even if he didn't show it, Hector's father was the one exception but Hector was still only just the son of the exception.

"I'll talk."

"Good! Dana, get this man a beer!"

She looked up from the gun in her hand. "Alex? One second you're threatening to kill a guy and the next you're offering him a beer?"

"He said he'd talk, that means he's on my side."

"And how do you know he's not lying?"

"Heartbeat." Dana groaned at this and got both Victor and Alex, because he would no doubt ask for one at some point, a beer from the fridge. "Thank you… so…" Alex said as he cut the top of the beer bottle off with his claws. "… how do I ruin the Carnales?"

"Angelo. First you need to ruin him. He is a child in the shadow of his brother. Once you kill Hector then Angelo will take over. He will be successful at first, most of the gang does not know of his incompetence… no, it is not incompetence, he just can't control his fucking bitch _or_ his anger."

"His bitch? Oh do tell me more. Anger is easy, kill the brother, fake kill you, or just plain screw with the gang, but a woman is interesting. This could be the perfect test for a project I have been working on." Alex's mind began turning the wheels of devious plans and perfect manipulation.

* * *

Ragland pored over the results of his tests. They were working out better than he could have hoped, but his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of Alex walking in.

"What's up Doc?"

"What do you require this time Alex?" Ragland said with the smallest amount of irritation in his voice.

"How is the Fountain of Strains doing?" Alex said as he looked over to the covered airlocked room.

"The subject is doing well, performing his job admirably. But I assume you want to know about what the subject produces, not about the subject himself."

"No… I really do want make sure he's doing okay too. But yeah, mostly that second thing." Ragland sighed.

"The Fountain is functioning just as we hoped. When the subject is placed near death the Blacklight in his body produces a new strain. When you mutate in these conditions you do so in an instinctual way to avoid them, developing in a way that will allow you to maybe survive. However, because the Fountain is not the one receiving the mutation the effect of the produced strain is random at best. The resulting strains are highly contagious, but once they find a host they cease to be so. Someone must cultivate the strain for it to be used more than once."

"That should be easy, the strain is in the blood. We just need to dump more blood and the virus will infect that blood."

"Yes, so long as there is more infected blood than non-infected blood the strain will continue to be contagious. Currently I have classified the strain under two groups, stable and unstable. The stable are strains that cause beneficial mutations. The one I am working on for our Mind Control is one of the stable strains, they cause the same mutation every time… or are at least somewhat consistent."

"What do you mean?"

"One of the strains I think you might like the best is this one." Ragland pulled from a safe a container marked as biohazardous. "This causes the skeleton to grow out from the host in the form of sharp horn-like protrusions."

"No way!" Alex said as took the container. "That sounds awesome."

"Yes, the problem is that the protrusions are formed at random, cannot be pulled back under the skin like your mutations and must be filed down because they keep growing."

"We could work on it later to see if we could refine this better."

"Indeed. Then we have the unstable strains, they produce mutations that are not beneficial. The best and cleanest example is the one that caused the subject of it to be covered in scar tissue and develop lungs in its legs."

"Yeah, that's not going to be helpful." Alex said not even liking the thought of that in his head. "So what about our other little project?" Alex noticed a slight reaction from Ragland, it was slight and would not have been noticed if not for his heightened senses.

"Work has been fruitful but I have yet to form the reaction with the test subjects that we need. It will take a bit more…."

"Ragland. You gad better tell me if you're lying." Ragland's back stiffened and his skin turned cold from the sound of Alex's voice. And the familiar feeling of utter fear and powerlessness came roaring back.

"I… have had one success. One of the strains I have been working on, the one I said earlier. It is not complete and it only causes minimal reaction."

"Well that is still something." Alex tone lessened but the fear in Ragland did not.

"I tested this one a group of rodents, as always human testing will never be done without you here. I injected the modified strain in seven subjects, and a heavily diluted version your strain in one of the rodents. And seven pure rodents as the control. Within hours the test rodents began protecting the Alex rodent from the control rodents."

"That sounds like a great leap in progress to me."

"It does at first, after further testing with more rodents and other subjects I found that this strain when dominated by a powerful mind or strain in the Hive Mind will become enthralled to said mind or strain."

"I really like where this is going."

"However…"

"No." Alex said slightly like a child.

"… the influence is limited to enacting one form of emotion and it would very weak at first but growing until it is absolute."

"Oh, that's good!" Alex said his face forming a happy smile at the thoughts running around in his head.

"It is limited to the brain; sexual arousal is produced by hormonal glands."

"Fuck! I knew that… I just wanted to believe." Alex sigh heavily. "But this can still work out for us. Do I just need to inject the strain in to whoever I want or is there sneaker way I could do it?"

"The strain can be airborne but it will seek out the closest host and only one host." Ragland said as pulled a vial of pink liquid from cold storage and handed it to Alex.

"Why is this pink, it's called Blacklight for a reason."

"It is what it is."

"Eh… you can't argue with that." Alex opened the vial and despite the shock and reaction from Ragland drank the contents down. After the sound of Alex's gulp there was a deep silence.

"Why did you do that?" Ragland asked, his voice heavy and out of breath from holding it to prevent infection.

"I will always be top dog and as such I must… do… that." Alex voice turned more into a growl. Alex hunched over grabbing his gut as he dropped to the floor. Alex's viral clothes began pulling back into his body and his skin began flashing a neon pink. Each and every cell in Alex body began fighting off the newer strain that was battling for dominance. After getting the pain he felt under a bit of control, Alex quickly began refocus his full attention on the viral war taking place in his body. Going through the viral hive mind he connected to the invading strain and forced it to submit to its grandparent strain. "Fuck!" Alex said as he spat out some of his blood. Ragland having already gotten on a rebreather quickly picked up a fire extinguisher to freeze the blood to prevent it from causing an epidemic and bringing the wrath of Blackwatch down on them. "Burn that spot with a flamethrower!"

"I know." Ragland said through his rebreather. "What happened?"

"Your Pinklight fucking tried to take me over, but I showed it who's boss." Alex said as he stood back up. "I don't feel any different, but I needed to do that."

"Just why on earth would you need to do that?"

"Because, I need to be on the top of the food chain. And to do that I need to evolve."

"Perhaps it's instinctual, caused by you being part virus. Your need to evolve and grow to your surroundings most likely comes from the Blacklight in you."

"A good reason as any, hand me another vial of that stuff."

"You're going to do that again?"

"No, dumbass! I need it to fuck with the Carnales." Alex said as he reached for the cold storage.

"No!" Ragland said as he shut the door as Alex's hand began to open it. Alex looked at Ragland, not really sure what to make of that. "You might grab the wrong one." He thought it over and nodded in agreement. Ragland pulled out another Pink vial and carefully handed it over.

* * *

Bismick walked through the dark hallway, he had never understood why they were so ominous. It wasn't like anyone outside the council was going to be here. They weren't even an evil group, they simply did the things necessary to keep humanity safe. Bismick walked up to the red steel door and put his thumb on the small pad next to it. He didn't even flinch at the prick of the needle that took a drop of blood from him.

/Please give voice verification/ The small computer in the door stated.

"When we hunt, we kill." He began.

"No one is safe. Everything is sacred. We are Blackwatch. We are the line of defense from the corruption from within. We will burn our own to hold the red line, it is the second line to be held and first line to be defended." The doors opened to Bismick, he walked through and quickly and quietly sat under the red banner in the conference room. The room was in a circle, and had three tables set in a triangle each under a banner colored in Blue, Black, and Red. "Good to see you all, I notice that the director is not here."

"He is still on his trip to Naples but he will go over this meeting's transcript." The man under the Black banner said calmly. He adjusted his glasses, they kept his eyes concealed from the rest of the group. The rest of the man's clothes were that of a scientist, lab coat over a wool sweater and dark black jeans over his legs. Bismick nodded, he would have preferred if the director would stop with the travel but it was not his place to say such things. "So Bismick, who are things coming on your end? That little slip-up in New York has certainly brought quite a bit of attention to your branch of our organization. The President of the US is asking things that should not be asked." The man said in the same snide way he always spoke in.

"Enough Torre, do not speak of things that are not of your concern." The man under the Blue banner said. He was dressed in a fine suit, clearly more for display than practical.

"Fine…" Torre raised his hands in mock defense.

"You must remember Torre that the Black line will not be under threat for many years. You are only here to relay the progress made by the space programs."

"Yes, of course, I apologize." Torre said slouching back into his chair.

"Good, now Bismick how is your research on the Blacklight virus going?"

"It is going according to our plan. Our research to reverse engineer the Blacklight's ability to improve upon the human body has been challenging, but we must find ways to perform these improvements without Blacklight."

"Why? If Blacklight can do these things, why not use it. It already is immune to… you know… that." Torre said with increased uncomfortableness to the subject.

"Yes, but all Blacklight is connected to each other via a hive mind. While Zeus is dead, another strong intelligence could take control, or a new strain could develop to override any control we have."

"Bismick is right in this. Continue your work, Watcher of the Red Line."

* * *

Alex was waiting in the woman's changing room as a consumed woman in Luz's favorite dress store. He had gotten the information from Victor, who only knew about it because he had guarded Angelo taking her here many times. Alex had followed Luz and who he assumed was not Angelo but the Colombian Victor had spoken about. The man made Alex laugh, he was the very picture of an overweight lecher using his money to get a younger and far more attractive woman than he deserved. Alex had noticed that the man at the very least treated her with respect and had been walking with a kind of swagger that he could respect, he had worked his way to his position and he had earned it. Alex was still going to steal Luz from him and Angelo, but it wasn't so much as steal as it was have her fall in love with him… bordering on obsessive submission.

Alex's ears perked up as he heard the door to the changing room open, he quickly turned to thermal vision and saw the shape of a woman matching Luz's size enter the third stall to his right. Alex quickly slipped under the dividing walls until he was in the one next to Luz. He smiled as he checked to make sure that no one else was in the changing room. Alex popped open the vial, watching with his Viral Vision as the strain floated out, first first moving to Alex but then wafting away.

"Dear _god am I happy I drank that stuff earlier. An outbreak here is the last thing I need._ "

Alex returned to watching the virus drift up into the air and over the dressing room walls. It fluttered down, over, and quickly moved to the closest organic thing it could find: Luz. It moved unseen to her exposed arm, and she flinched when it entered into her skin. She turned and slapped her shoulder, most likely thinking it was a bug. Alex could see the Virus blooming through her body, watching in amazement at how little the virus was noticed by Luz, a few itches to the shoulder but other than that nothing.

Once the virus had completely intertwined into Luz Alex could feel her in the Hive Mind. It wasn't like the lamplights of the Infected hordes, the bright flares of the Hunters, the spotlight of his creation George or the celestial body that was Elizabeth Greene. No, it was like a small dim flame, but Alex was close enough to notice it.

Ragland had said that only one emotion could be induced, and while it would grow over time the only measure of control he had was over which one it was, the rest of the manipulation had to be all him. Alex sighed quietly as he waited for Luz to finish and leave, which she didn't. He needed to time this all perfectly, he needed something to bring her to him or him to her in a way that would put him in a positive light to her. He couldn't just go up to her and whisk her away to his castle in the sky like in some fairy tale, but at the same time he could just take her and hold her hostage until the virus brought her to the level he needed. That clashed with his morals, and on top of that it didn't work with why he was doing this in the first place, which was to mess with the Carnales. Alex looked out to the store, the fat man was waiting and he could just feel the lust and impatience coming off him. That had Alex smile, he looked down at the woman's body he currently had and knew just what to do.

Alex walked out of the changing room in the most revealing and enhancing dress he could find. His hips swayed as he walked out in such a way that only a woman with no dignity could do… or a man with a form of a woman would do if he had no form of shame. This caused an immediate reaction from everyone in the store, no one could look away as men watched with lust and women glared with jealousy. Alex walked over to the Colombian who had somehow not noticed him.

"Well hello there, what's a man like you doing here?" Alex said, the consumed woman's voice flowing seductively. The man looked quickly at first before raking up and down the body of the woman in front of him. It took him a few moments to refocus himself.

"Well miss, it seems that I have come here by the hand of fate." He said in a deep Colombian accent, it was actually quite pleasant, and if the man took better care of himself he wouldn't need money to get women.

"How charming." Alex said trying to think about every movie or TV show that had a seduction scene.

"Are you here alone, a woman such as yourself most certainly would have gentleman with her, yes?" Running through the memories of every psychologist he had consumed he knew that this guy like to play the hero, and this was confirmed by the info Victor had given him.

"I afraid not, I try but I can't seem to find a man that can treat me right." Alex said sitting next to the man, careful to perform the correct body language. It worked like a charm and the man quickly moved closer.

"I am deeply sorry to hear that, a woman such as yourself deserves a real man that would treat you right." The man began leaning for a kiss.

Oh god did I time this wrong? Luz should have come by now. I don't fucking touch this waste of skin… huh. I think I finally have a better understanding of the female mind.

Alex was saved by the shout as Luz stormed out of the changing room. The man quickly pulled back. Alex knew that for his plan to work this man needed to be the bad guy in this, not her… him. Alex slapped the man.

"You already have someone!" Alex declared and then quickly stormed back into the changing room with fake tears in eyes. He guessed his plan worked because Luz did not follow and he heard more shouting. Alex climbed of the room through the nearby window and shifted back into his form with the exception of his clothes. He now wore nice jeans and a red and black silk collar shirt with a black leather jacket. His dark hair was combed and trimmed. He watched as Luz stormed out of the store without the man following or any of the Carnales guards.

Lucky for him, they really didn't want to deal with her angry.

Luz walked across the street to the nearby concrete park after yelling back in the direction of the store in Spanish, Alex could hear a lot of cursing in the yelling.

 _That sure is a lot of anger for someone that is supposed to be just friends._

Alex moved across the street away from Luz's view. Once he was in position he took another glance towards the store and after checking in thermal he saw the Colombian talking on his cell. Alex looked down to see the woman crying, he felt slightly guilty for causing this pain but he also knew it was going to happen with how the slimebag was acting. Now, he was going to make her feel better. Alex formed a silk handkerchief out of his own viral tissue.

"You might need this." Alex said as held out the handkerchief to the woman. Luz looked up and at the second she looked at Alex's face he sent a signal to the strain in her to cause her brain to start feeling in love. Alex knew it was going to very minor at first, but it was more about sowing the seeds of the thoughts of love than the full control.

"Oh… thank you." Luz said as gently took the tissue, her eyes never moving from Alex's smile.

"Now I must ask, what could possibly make a woman such as yourself cry on a beautiful day like today?"

* * *

Ragland was sitting back in his chair looking at the vial he had hidden from Alex. He smiled as he stared into the swirling Black and Pink. This was his finest creation, it was the _complete_ Mind Control strain. He had fused Alex's Blacklight with his finished product of the so called Pinklight. What Alex had taken was the third generation of the strain, the final product was the tenth. Now all he needed was someone with a grudge against Zeus.


	9. Instincts are a Bitch

Ragland was waiting in Tanya's apartment. Tt was easy getting in, the woman didn't even lock her door. He was currently sitting in one of her dining room chairs, absently noting that it was a nice set too. The whole place was far nicer than he thought the woman deserved. She had lied and cheated every step of the way to where she was now. She was an exquisite fit for his creation, seeing as she already was quite manipulative and had a grudge against Alex. It was ironic however that it was only because of her brothel that the Pinklight virus could have been made, Ragland only being able to get so far with rodents. Once he hit the third generation, they simply could no longer provide the proper data he needed. The human subjects at the brothel made the discovery of the correct strand of virus possible within a day of testing. Ragland smiled as he began mentally gloating over his growing expertise in Blacklight modification. His smile left his face when he heard the door open. His eyes stared intently at the wall that separated the room he was in from the door out of the apartment. As Tanya walked in he turned on the electronic voice changer he had placed in the Chinatown mask covering his face. The owner of the apartment screeched at the sight of Ragland, he was certainly a scary figure, he had dressed up in all black with a dark military trench coat and a hood that covered the top half of his mask. This was all to prevent Alex from learning of his involvement when he would eventually consume this woman.

"Hello Ms. Winters." Ragland was quite satisfied with how close he had gotten the tuner to sound like the doll from the Saw movies.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tanya demanded as she slowly began moving back to the door.

"I wouldn't do that Ms. Winters…" Ragland calmly said as he stood up. "…I have three snipers watching you, and if don't listen to what I have to say then you must be eliminated for even seeing me." She froze at this and frantically looked at the nearby windows. "I am sure that by now you have heard of the events that happened New York." Tanya nodded carefully. "I represent the organization that handled said events. We are currently performing an investigation to see if the... _infestation_ has spread here to Stilwater. This is where you come into the picture." At this Ragland pulled out the vial of his creation, he had placed it in a different looking container than the rest and was using his non-dominant hand to pull it out. All of this to prevent Alex from linking Ragland to this meeting.

"What is that?"

"We secretly raided a known associate of the infestation and adapted his research to our own in order to make this. We are giving this to you because you have met the infestation and it has caused you suffering. You will use this to kill it." Ragland placed the vial on the apartment's coffee table.

"And what the hell is it?"

"It will allow you dominate the minds of humans." There was an eerie quiet after that statement. Ragland walked right pass the now fully-terrified Tanya. "Before I go Ms. Winters, just know that we are always watching, and if you make any moves against us we will know. Your job and mission is to ruin the one who is at the root of your misfortune, a being who happens to be our own target. You are a proxy, nothing more, nothing less. Once you have completed this task, you will be subjected to an antidote and returned to your life of crime unharmed. Open the container in exactly two hours, and drink the contents." At this Ragland walked to the door. "Have a good evening Ms. Winters."

* * *

Alex was laying back on a park bench. He had turned back into his normal clothes and was kicking back smiling. His plan was going perfectly, after he had made contact with Luz he consoled her and about ten minutes into an actually quite decent conversion Angelo showed up.

That must have been who Orejuela was calling. Couldn't handle her and decided to dump the problem on Angelo. All that talk about being a real man and he turned out to be a coward.

As Alex watched the sun go down he felt good about the day, he looked around. There was no one anywhere, he had checked with his thermal vision and still there was not a single soul on the street or in the park. Alex smiled as he kicked upward to stand on his feet. He made a few cracks to his joints and launched into a sprint towards one of Stilwater's few skyscrapers, causing a small crater where he once stood. Each step he took splintered the concrete under his boot and soon the glass in front of him as he dashed up the side of the building. He kept going up as he hit the top of the building, flying into the air and landing on the roof causing the entire top floor to shake.

 _Oh, that felt good. I haven't done that for a long while._

Alex spent a few minutes looking out over Stilwater, ever the city of endless opportunity. He did think the lights looked better than New York, but that might be because of the state the latter city was in when he last saw it from this view.

"Looks good doesn't it?" A hispanic voice said from behind, shocking him.

"Rodriguez! What the hell are you doing here?" Alex said casually as Victor walked over next to him.

"I wanted to know how you were doin' in _mente maldita perra de Angelo_."

"Luz is moving down, into my pocket. My plan is for us to accidentally meet tomorrow, but what is important to you is that Dex should be done with the truck. We should be moving soon to take your former employer's drug factory."

"Without that, the Colombians are going see Hector as a weak man who can't hold what is his."

"Yeah I don't really care about that… I just want to play mind games. Getting the Lopezes pissed and sloppy is how I'm going to do that." Alex sighed. "I've had enough for today let's head back to the apartment and I'll whip up some…" He stopped dead mid-sentence at the feeling of savage instinctual rivalry invading his senses. "Someone just showed up in the Hive Mind." Alex looked towards where he felt the new presence. It was distinct, but its connection was thin. It felt similar to Luz, but stronger and more like him too. The fact it felt like Luz meant that Ragland's strain was involved. Alex fought the urge to find the person and rip them to shreds. That wouldn't get him anywhere. And then suddenly the presence vanished, like it removed itself from the hive mind.

"So what is it?" Victor asked.

"Something's happening, go back to Dana. A new player is out there and I have a feeling that they're coming for me." Alex said as he watch a ball of fire from an explosion come from nearby the presence was. "And tell her to try and get a data blackout. News, internet, cells, everything."

"You got it boss." Victor said as he jumped off the building.

"I don't like this." Alex said as he pulled out his phone and then called Ragland. "You have something to tell me?"

"No… what happened?"

"I felt something new in the hive mind, and now I'm watching something akin to my rampages in New York."

"I… I… I don't know what to say to that. Could it be that Luz mutated in response to the strain?"

"No, I still feel her. I'm going to come over to your lab after I clean up what can only be _your_ mess." Alex said closing the call. He personally felt that it was most likely one of the Rollerz having taken one of the vials in Ragland's lab thinking it might be drugs. He trusted Ragland, or at the very least trusted in his fear of Alex and Blackwatch. He jumped across the rooftops until he was able see the what was happening below. It was just like he said, a scene from one of his rampages in New York: A viral monster on top of a pile of cars. The creature let out a terrifying shriek as its barbed viral armor flailed in the air… but its shape was feminine, and instead of the normal black and red viral tissue Alex had it was black and pink. Its jaw was unhinged and filled with sharp spiked teeth, it's spine cracked open and small twitching tendrils were sprouting out, and its hands were replaced by pairs of twin two feet-long blades. Alex probed into the Hive mind and brute-forced a connection to the creature, it noticed this and locked on to him. "That's right, come up here bitch." He said as he watched the monster run up the building. It crashed down on the roof, it didn't have the stone-shattering force Alex had but it was still impressive.

The viral monster unhinged her jaw and gave out another scream. Alex simply tilted his head to the side and waited. The monster snarled and dashed forward, piercing his torso with its two monstrous claws, but as she looked up at Alex he just frowned.

"You disappoint me kid. How dare you attack your better?" The monster leaped back and stared at him with a look of confusion. "You thought I was some normal human, not a chance. I now know why you left the Hive Mind, the state you are in is the virus stabilizing, mine was simply me being dead for a while. You should revert back soon but not before I do this…" Alex threw out several viral tendrils that chased after the monster. The creature dodged and ran under them now trying its luck at decapitating Alex but he ducked under the swing and with a swift kick to the gut launched her back to the edge of the building. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Alex said as he shifted into his armor. The monster roared again and bolted towards him, he moved out of the way before grabbing her head and slamming it through a nearby air-conditioner unit causing the machine to explode outward. He moved to slam her head into the roof itself but the tendrils from the creature's back wrapped around his arm and somehow dug under his armor. Alex screamed in pain as his mind was assaulted, only making out a few words in the onslaught, things like control, submit, and power. Alex was not an amateur when it came to attacks like this and quickly shoved the monster out of his mind while letting her go from his physical grip.

Alex could feel himself begin to lose a small amount of control of his actions. He rushed forward, his arms reinforced with extra muscle as he lashed out at the monster but missed. He silently berated himself for that as the monster dug its talons into his arms. Alex jumped high into the air in an attempt to get a better view and escape from the current pain of having swords in his arms. He felt strange, like his mind had a very aggressive backseat driver screaming at him to consume, control, or destroy this rival. Alex shot back down towards his opponent claws bared ready to tear flesh and viral tissue. Alex's right claw made easy contact into the creature's shoulder and the left into the skull, it wasn't a kill shot to a viral creature but now Alex had direct access to her brain. Alex firstly cut the signals going to the rest of the body. This gave the creature time to prepare for the real assault, but Alex knew all about both human and viral brain structure and was quite experienced in this brand of warfare, all she had was a superior viral strain in terms of mental abilities. Alex was able to tear away the recent memories

 ** _The image of a dark clothed man in a red oriental mask was sitting in a dining room._**

"Hello Ms. Winters." The man said, his voice electronically modulated into a whispering growl.

"Who the fuck are you?" The woman said to the man, the memory showed fear in her, and the room slightly moved back.

The voice of the masked man began to fade in and out.

"...you have heard of the events that happened in New York… I represent the organization that handled said events. We are currently performing an investigation…." Once the man had finished speaking he pulled out a container.

"What is that?" The woman asked.

"... raided a known associate of the infestation and adapted his research… use this to kill it." The man placed a container on the nearby coffee table.

"And what the hell is it?"

"It will allow you dominate the minds of humans." The man began to walk past the field of the memory view. "Before I go Ms. Winters, just know that we are always watching…... open the vial in exactly two hours…. drink the contents." The sound of footsteps trailed out the door. "Have a good evening Ms. Winters."

The woman sat down at on the couch her eyes on the vial of strange liquid. Alex could feel from the memory that all she wanted to do was dump it, but the promise of what the man had said was too great. She was feeling helpless and desperate, like something had turned her life upside-down. After two hours had passed the woman grabbed the vile and began drinking it, the memory faded to jumbled colors and feelings, though most of them were triumphant and euphoric.

When Alex came back to his senses he saw the creature jump off the building. Alex looked across the street and watched the creature dash around a corner and out of sight. "Must have had enough and didn't want me to try that again. It should count its lucky stars, because I would have made it submit. Still, too much trouble to tail it right now. I'll find it when she returns back to the hive mind. Its hiding right so it shouldn't make too much trouble, whoever it is." Alex pulled out his phone and dialed Dana's phone. "Did you make sure that no one sent word to the outside about the nice little show here?"

"Well, yes and no." Dana answered.

"What do you mean?"

"I hacked into the Blacknet surveillance feed and found out that everything pointed at Stilwater is on a high-tech loop. _Someone_ hacked it to receive only the normal net traffic, not only that, but they even used Blackwatch's own programs to scrub all the digital evidence of this whole night."

"How the hell is that possible?"

"I have no idea, but it looks like we got a free pass on this one."

* * *

Atshushi couldn't help but smile. He had just witnessed a battle between titans, two beings of such raw power and biological perfection. It was spectacular and, as he expected, Zeus won. The teenager was certainly glad that the commander put him on the list that no one wanted to be on. Only five people had been on the list of people to be notified of Zeus' sightings. And only Atshushi actually checked every hour or day. No one in Blackwatch wanted to believe that Zeus survived and so they dismissed the scattered reports of strange occurances. It was easy to use some borrowed programs from the cyber division of Blackwatch, he had the proper clearance and it wasn't like anyone was going to ask why. People in Blackwatch were too well-trained to do something like that to their superior.

The scientist went back onto his computer, he checked to see if his little electronic deception had worked as fully as he needed. He looked on in horror to see it had not. Two people had tracked it back to him. Atshushi quickly tried to trace both of the intruders, but he wasn't exactly an expert at this. The first one he traced back to Stilwater… he sighed in relief at this. This was no doubt Zeus's former sister, but the other still eluded him before he got a e-mail from someone he thought was a myth: The Director. Atshushi stared wide-eyed at the little flag that was next to the name of the sender indicating that he had yet to open it. Sweat ran down his face, he had only heard of this man or woman (or _thing_ ) when he was brought on to Blackwatch and through rumors. He knew that there was a very good chance that a gunman was standing right outside his office ready to fire through the door once he opened the e-mail… probably a few seconds delay for him to read it. He swallowed. He knew that either way he was dead. He numbly opened the e-mail. He only saw a single line of text: "Thank You." Atshushi slowly looked to the door and watched as nothing came from it. He looked back at the e-mail and saw that it had been deleted.

* * *

Alex walked through the door to Ragland's lab, he wasn't happy but he wasn't angry.

"Ragland!" Alex yelled as he walked up to the man. "Blackwatch has got a taste of us and they're on the hunt."

"I'm not familiar with that phrase... but I understand what you're saying." Ragland said as he put down what he was working on. "What have you learned?"

'They sent an agent, after the fuckup in New York they don't want another full scale invasion. People are still concerned and scared." He sat down on Ragland's lab chair and spun around. "They know I'm not going to start another outbreak; they know I'm hiding, so they want to keep things quiet." The chair spun to a halt. "But what is the most interesting is how they have decided to kill me."

"Well they tried all the normal ways..." Ragland said trying to lighten the mood and calm Alex down.

"Funny. Bad time for that." Alex said completely serious. He really wasn't the mood at the moment, that back seat driver to his mind had calmed down but was still jabbing at him.

"Apologies, so how did Blackwatch make whatever that thing was?"

"They stole some of your things." Alex watched as Ragland's posture turned to one of shock and terror.

"Alex, please, understand that I didn't…

"I don't blame you. Just check over the vials and see what is missing," Alex said as he rubbed his face in announce. Ragland nodded and hurried over to the cold storage.

"No!" Ragland yelled. Alex sighed and turned to walk over.

"What did they take?"

"They took the experimental strains. The strand I gave you was the third generation, but they took the fifth and sixth, not only that but also the other experimental strains." Ragland said, appearing genuinely worried in front of his boss.

"Which strains were taken?"

"Hmm… the Pinklight as you called it, the fifth and sixth generation. I didn't give those to you because they weren't ready yet, the fifth caused tumors and the sixth caused the subjects brain to fry from sensory overload. I was working on fixing the problems, but it seems that Blackwatch already did, improving on it even."

"That wouldn't explain what I saw, Pinklight is mind control, but it still doesn't turn people into me… right?"

"No of course not… unless, dear God." Ragland walked over to one of the forklifts in the warehouse. His hands shook as he operated the forklift, moving it so he could reach a small hidden panel. "No!"

"I'm really starting to hate that word."

"They stole one of your blood slides."

"Just one?"

"I only kept one slide once we had gotten settled, you are available for more, so I only keep one as a backup." Ragland said he worked his way down.

"So they have my blood, they can't map the entirety of Blacklight with one drop." Alex said, knowing more than even Ragland about Blacklight seeing as he was its greatest host.

"No, to do that they would need a pint in the very best case, a gallon at worst. But with that, they could evolve the Pinklight strain to a crossbreed, a fusion of Pink and Blacklight."

" _That_ would be what I saw. What other strains did they take?"

"They took three other strains, a third generation strain that I was working on to be something that could be used for a… Soldier Hunter."

"What did you say?"

"The hunter creature is the drone of the hive mind, much like in an ant colony. It forms to defend the hive in an outbreak but require an outbreak to be born. This strain would mutate a human to a hunter after the right amount of biomass was consumed. How that biomass is consumed is… well that was what I was trying to fix. I only used one human subject in testing, in a very thick airtight cage. What was produced was a hunter standing up right and with marked increased reliance on the Hive Mind."

"That was the blip I felt a week ago. It was _not_ well timed."

"How so?" Ragland quickly understood by the smile Alex gave back. "Yes… I see. The other two strain that they took was a new mutations like you claws or sword."

"What is it?"

"Bio-projectile weaponry."

"Really, that sounds fucking awesome!"

"The first projected shards of your bio-metal in a rifle-like fashion… the reaction from the mice from this mutation was quite amusing. The other fired streams of venom or acid."

"Everything you said sounds awesome. Please tell me you have backups."

"No, they took everything."

"Fuck!" Alex then sighed. "Alright, anything else taken?"

"Nothing else, it seemed that they were only interested in the most advanced strains."

"Well at least that's all they took, and they didn't kill our little druggy friend so that's good. I'll replace your backup slide but first I need to talk about something with you." Ragland looked at Alex with confusion, real confusion. He wasn't expecting anything more. His boss sat back down. "When I was fighting that thing, and ever since, there has been this feeling in the back of my mind. It feels like me but it wants to be something else."

"I see, this may be your viral instincts again. You have a rival and you feel the need to fix that, you feel the need to be on top again, unchallenged." Ragland was intrigued by this news.

"Right, all I could think was killing, consuming, or making that bitch kiss my feet."

"This mindset most likely was formed after you had consumed Greene, you developed the predatory need to be on the top of the food chain. This caused deep human instincts to merge with the Blacklight virus." Ragland was fully invested in this new development, this could become an integral aspect of all future strains that came from Alex.

"Sounds as likely as anything Blacklight-related."

"If this theory is true then what you're feeling now might stem from an instinct to be the best among the breeding pool."

"Now we're getting into the survival of the fittest, and only the fittest can fuck."

"I wouldn't put it so crassly, but yes. Since Blacklight and by extension Picklight are viruses, they reproduce asexually. This manifests in the need to either be the only one reproducing or gaining control over those that are."

"Are you saying I can have kids? I thought I was sterile, though thankfully not in any way that would impede my fun." Alex said with a smile.

"Yes…" Ragland said dryly. "… I'm not referring to the normal way humans have children, instead via the method a virus would reproduce. Theoretically, you could infect someone with the exact same strain of Blacklight you have and not the thousands of deadly and unstable strains that live alongside it in your body. The key would be transferring only your strain and not one of the bad ones."

"I don't think I like the idea of little me's running around."

"They wouldn't be…"

"I know, I know! Now… I wanted to wait until the strain stabilizes and it returns to the Hive Mind but… it's been too long now. She must have already returned to the world of sanity and decent jaw structure, yet I'm the only one in the Hive Mind… me and Luz… oh fuck!"

"What?" Ragland said as he watched Alex walked towards the door.

"I've got my own little lab mouse, and I need to prepare for our next little meeting."

* * *

Dana was waiting for Alex the next morning, he had not come home and she really wished he had. Something had come into their apartment and she needed him to be here to help her with it. Her mind cleared as she heard the door open and the sound of her brother's heavy boots come in.

"Dana! I'm back from a night of stalking." He couldn't have chosen any word worse than that.

"You were doing what?" A well dressed man with black and gray hair and dull gray eyes said as he exited the apartment's bathroom washing his hands. Alex was shocked to see this man and stopped moving entirely.

"It is not! What. It. Sounded. Like." Alex said clearly and precisely. He knew how this man thought and how he preferred him to act.

"Is that so? Can you explain what you meant by that statement then?" The newcomer said leaning in.

"How did you find us uncle Mal?" Alex said turning the conversion around on the man. But before the man could answer Alex continued. "You're going to say it's classified aren't you?"

"Your father has been worried about you, I personally could not understand the feeling."

"You can tell the old man we're fine." Alex said keeping the smile from his face as he walked over to the kitchen to get a beer.

"You actually seemed like you were worth your father's time, a successful doctor with a respectable company, in a decent relationship with a proper woman, you were showing your true worth and now… you are… here."

"Your point? This sounds like all the other the times you showed up. You bitch about how I don't live up to your standards and then shame Dana about whoever she's dating. So let's just skip all that and get to the reason why you're here." Alex said then sat down in the couch. "You're checking up on us for the old man, and you already told him where we are. So there's that, and now you simply want to come here and judge us like you always do." He stared at his uncle who wasn't even his uncle, just an old war buddy of his father's that was always around for no real reason. Alex's father went the civilian route when he got back but Mal went the way of the CIA. Alex had long suspected that Mal's connections were the reason why his father seemed to know everything.

"I am here to make sure that you two are safe and well. I have done that, and now since I can feel that I am no longer welcomed I shall leave." The man said formally before nodding to the two and walking out of the apartment.

"How the fucking hell can that be the old man's best friend?" Alex said as he sipped his beer.

"I don't know, I'm just happy he went after _you_ this time." Dana smirked.

* * *

King was sitting at his office. He was running his fingers over the grooves of his oak desk. It helped him keep calm, the expensive craftsmanship was his symbol for how far he had come, from a small time gangster in Sunnyvale to the leader of a city-wide power. King looked up as Warren walked in.

"You wanted to see me Mr. King." His voice was bitter.

"Sit down Warren, we have some things to discuss." Warren sat down across from his boss. King needed to show power and the boy needed to know who was in control. "I have big plans for you Warren, you show lots of promise. You could be more than just some piece-waving gangbanger, but you need to learn first. You need to watch, listen, and wait for your time. And right now it's still _my_ time." Warren reluctantly nodded. "You have talent, but if you go get shot just because you think you have something to prove then you're no good to nobody."

"But Mr. King, how can you say that after what they did to Anthony?! We can't let that…"

"I'm **not**." The rage coming from King was so strong it could be felt in the air. "What happened will not be taken lightly, but understand if we lose our cool now then we lose period. Right now the Saints are gunning for the Carnales, we need to take this and use it. Make what we got stronger and plan to take back what we lost." The room cooled down and Warren felt it was okay to speak again.

"So what's our next move?"

"Finish the repairs on the studio, we need that income back. With the money rolling in we can bankroll a plan to take back what the Saints took and anything they took from the Carnales. So you understand Warren, you are too important to lose just because you might feel angry and powerless."

"Yeah I understand." Warren said, he felt a little honored that King felt this way. Warren stood up and shook the man's hand and for the first time ever it felt like something he truly wanted to do. Warren walked out of the office more sure of anything than he ever had before.

"Hello Warren." A voice that felt so familiar yet so new washed over him. It took him a second to come back to his senses before he turned to Tanya. She wasn't in her normal white skirt, top, and stockings, instead she wore wearing skin tight black jeans, her feet bare, and a black leather jacket barely zipped up enough to cover her chest.

"Tanya? You in mourning or something?" Warren said trying to keep his wits with him, something had changed with her. Every detail about her seemed to drive his mind crazy.

"Something." Her voice was fuller and demanded to be heard without any hint of being aggressive. She pulled him in closer by his tie. "What did King want?"

"We were talking about me and how he needs me and the plans he has for the Saints." Warren's words tumbled out, as if he was eager for some unknown reward.

"And what will those plans be?" Tanya said as her other hand began slowing moving downward.

"Fix the studio and use the money from the business there to take back everything from from the Saints and the Carnales." Warren couldn't help himself, he knew he would often say things that he knew he should have to Tanya, but never this easily. The strangest thing was he genuinely didn't care so long as her hand didn't stop, but then it did. She let go of Warren and began walking away. "What… hey, where you goin'?" Warren asked, he had meant to demanded why she had stopped, she had never done that before, but he just couldn't raise his voice beyond a small whimper. She didn't give back a verbal answer, merely waving at him to follow… like a dog trailing behind its owner. And he did.


	10. Mind Fucking

"So, what the fuck happened?" Alex said as he sipped another beer. He was watching Dana working furiously on the many computers she had in her room. Alex knew the basics of hacking from the memories he had acquired, but he still couldn't understand any of what was in front of him.

"S _omeone_ in Blackwatch used highly advanced hacking to basically wipe last night from digital existence. Everything from last night in the entire mid-west was overwritten with junk data, then _that_ was encrypted using algorithms _beyond_ mil-spec." Dana said looking at the data that was coming in from her network. "Could you back up, your breath is horrible." She said as she shoved her brother's face away.

"So are you sayin' that _un demonio_ saved us from _El Diablo_?" Victor asked from his spot in the back corner of the room.

"No, Alex said that they sent an agent here and made that other Blacklight monster, if what he said is right then that means they did this to cover up their involvement." Dana turned around to face the men. "If _that's_ true then this might not be a one-time thing.."

"But we still need to be on guard." Victor said as he watched Alex walked out of the room. "And where are you goin'?"

"Dex just texted me saying the truck is ready." Alex said, his face devoid of the seriousness Dana and Victor thought the situation called for.

"Are you even going to try to hide anymore?" Dana yelled out as Alex walked out of the apartment.

" _Why on Earth does she think that of me? Of course I'm still going to hide. Just because Blackwatch knows I'm in Stilwater doesn't mean I should be reckless. I **need** to be careful, if I'm not then they'll come after her._ "

Alex walked from the apartment towards the chopshop Dex had the truck at. He was thinking about the other Viral that he had fought last night. The Blackwatch agent called her "Ms. Winters." He hadn't met anyone by that name as far as he knew. But the agent said that _he_ had caused the woman to suffer… that barely narrowed the pool of suspects. He was unsure as to what to do with this new Viral, but his instincts were crystal clear: Destroy it or grow stronger from it. He wouldn't destroy her, waste of talent or power, he would either control that power and talent or take it for himself. His thoughts moved back to the current world when he entered the chopshop.

"Alright I'm here, we ready to take the Carnales' factory down?" Alex said as he walked up to Dex and Troy.

"Yeah… I had the truck fixed up good as new. Load it up with a crew and drive it right into the Carnales production plant. When you get inside, hop out and take the place over."

"It's not exactly the most original plan…" Troy said unsure of this idea.

"There's something to be said about the classics." Dex returned his attention to Alex. "Remember what I said. Take the place over, _don't_ blow it to hell. The more shit you blow up, the more we have to replace once we're runnin' it."

"Got it, take the place over, don't blow it up, roll around in piles of coke when done…" Alex said running over to the truck before Dex could say anything about that last comment. He waited in the truck as it drove to the factory, going over the entirety of the hive mind. The hive mind at its peak was like two stars, Alex and Greene, surrounded by thousands of small lights that were the Infected, and a few hundred brighter satellites to represent the Hunters. Most of the lights circled around Greene but once Alex consumed her and gained a more active connection to the hive mind the lights quickly circled around to him, all needing his influence to function properly. Now however, things were different, now it was just him, Luz, and…. something far away. It was likely his final creation from New York, Blackwatch would have captured it rather than kill it. He found that while he could always feel his connection to the entirety of the hive mind, the distance from him to the rest of the infected that Blackwatch captured or not yet killed left him with little fine control. If he was going to someday direct a worldwide hive mind, even if it was in the form of infiltrators and controlled humans, then he would need to find a way to boost his control range. He could find loyal people to act as underlings, but that invited the prospect of betrayal. He made a mental note to talk to Ragland about this as they pulled into the factory. Alex banged on the wall dividing the truck's cabin from the back hold. "Alright Boys! Time for some killing!"

"Yeah! 3rd street!" "Let's smoke those bitches!" "The Carnales ain't gonna know what hit 'em!"

The Saints dropped out of the back of the truck and unleashed a hail of gunfire on the Carnales. The invaders quickly found cover and began firing on the defenders standing on higher ground and the ones in the windows of the factory. Alex dropped from his seat to the asphalt.

"None of you enter the building!" Alex order to the rest of the Saints. "I'm in a killing mood and I can't guarantee you won't get whacked by accident." The Viral ran through the crossfire between the two groups and made his way to the door.

"Adios, vato!" A Carnale yelled as he leveled a rocket launcher at Alex's face, only to stare in horror when his target walked out of the explosion completely unharmed.

Shrugging off the next few rocket rounds as he entered the factory, he closed the doors behind him, confident in the Saints' ability to kill any that ran out of the building and even more confident that he would be able to kill any that tried. Alex shot the three in the far back of the factory, they were the closest to the only other door out. He jumped to the middle of the ceiling and launched a stream of black tendrils all aiming at the Carnales' necks. A massacre turned into a feeding frenzy as their decapitated corpses flowed back to Alex. He dropped back down to the ground as the first Saint yelled in to ask if it was safe.

"Does Ben King wipe his ass with gold leaf? Course it's fucking safe!"

The Saints hesitantly walked through the door and began going over the factory as Alex feigned tiredness in a nearby armchair while going over the many memories he had absorbed. Most were unimportant and personal… a few involved impressive feats of sexual prowess, he would save those for later. One was _very_ interesting. Apparently Hector, the leader of the Carnales, was going to be meeting the Colombians in two days at the docks. Useful information indeed.

Alex watched as the Saints began tagging the place, trashing the red-colored banners and furniture, and doing various other things to make the place theirs. Quickly becoming bored, he immersed himself in the hive mind. With the factory taken, the only thing left on his viral to do list was to "bump" into Luz by some miracle of fate. He began planning out how he would do this, his thoughts snaking through the hive mind to access the strain in Luz and eavesdrop on the sensory information coming to her brain. It wasn't a hard thing to do, the virus had access to her brain by design, so it was only a mild headache to force the it to mutate in such a small way. Alex smiled at the plan forming, Luz and Angelo were on their way to a café in downtown… some trendy overpriced operation. He need to get the boyfriend away, and he needed to look like the hero.

"You!" Alex pointed to one of the Saints. "Get over here." The Saint nodded and ran over, not wanting to make their lieutenant mad. "Take that hat off." The minion looked up at his purple hat with a confused look. "I have a plan to fuck with the Carnales and they can't know that we are part of the Saints so no purple." He nodded and took his hat off. " _Do these guys do anything except nod?"_

"Okay here's the plan: _You_ will steal a purse, make a run for it, and bump into _me_. I take the purse back and give you a small beating." The Saint gave a quiet gulp at this. "Hey, don't be a bitch about it, it won't be that bad. And…" Alex pushed his chair over to a nearby table. "You get all this for your trouble." He moved back to the Saint and handed him a stack of cash that could easily be five grand. The Saint smiled with thoughts of what he could do with the money. " _Good, I make a quick call to Angelo with the voice of one of Los Carnales and tell him about the factory. He gets mad and storms off, leaving Luz all alone. I bet the bastard didn't make a reservation since this is a makeup date for yesterday. That'll leave her with nothing to do, the Saint will steal her purse leaving her with no money, but then wait! Here comes the knight in viral armor! I stop the would-be thief, return the purse, and then take Angelo's place by getting us into the café with a nice bribe. Then begins the real work._ "

* * *

Tanya was enjoying herself. She was sitting in her apartment which had been filled with free clothes, shoes, jewelry, and many other luxuries. She was getting a free pedicure and she was enjoying the sight of all her stuff. Then, like a rock thrown in a serene pool, her phone rang and interrupted her materialistic bliss.

"Warren, honey? Can you get that?" Tanya ordered her favorite toy. The person that was once Warren was now but a shell for Tanya's orders. In the few hours since she had first infected him with the microscopic tendrils that extended out from her feet, he had become nothing more than a begging servant for her attention. The Pinklight strain was wrapping around his spine and slowly intertwining through his muscle, feeding the exact chemicals to his brain that would inspire love, sexual desire, loyalty, and basic need whenever he thought of Tanya. Warren answered the phone and quickly placed it up to Tanya's ear.

"I enjoyed that show last night." Tanya's eyes widened in fear and surprise at the sound of the same tuned voice that gave her this power. "I had not expected the virus to react in such a way, but it would seem that events unfolded splendidly. Tell me, do you remember anything?"

"Everything, what do _you_ want from me now?"

"Careful my dear, that almost sounded like a threat." At that moment the nearby window shattered and the woman performing Tanya's pedicure dropped dead with two gunshots in her chest. "Because that would not be good for your health." Tanya stared at the dead woman on her floor, her blood now soaking into the carpet. "I'll take your silence as understanding. Now tell me everything."

* * *

Alex was watching Luz stand on the sidewalk alone. He hadn't even needed to call Angelo, the couple had fought explosively and Angelo had stormed off without any prompting. He was now waiting for the Saint to run and steal Luz's purse. It was not a long wait, and at the sound of a feminine scream he turned the corner of a nearby building, not wanting to look like he was lying in wait. He spun aimlessly, looking like he was distracted by his phone. The Saint crashed into him, but it was more like the Saint bounced off while Alex stood there like a brick wall. He looked up from his phone and first to the Saint who was doing a very good job at acting, he would give bonus to him for that, then he looked forward to Luz. Alex picked up the Saint by his shirt and delivered a punch to the gut, a mere tap for him, before taking the purse from the groaning "robber." Alex walked over to the stunned Luz.

"I take it this is yours." Alex's voice was warm and comforting, a feeling enhanced by a subtle release of serotonin from the strains in Luz's body.

"We really must stop meeting like this." She said as she took her purse back. The look of attraction and shyness at those feelings was clearly apparent on her face.

" _How many times have I heard that line? I'll just… say that the strain is causing her to be unable to think more originally and not the more embarrassing possibility that she's just that dim._ " Alex thought before return his attention to her. "I take that to mean that you would like to meet again?" The woman blushed at the insight Alex made into her words. Alex knew he needed to move this forward, he looked at the Café. "Are you here with that man from yesterday?"

"I was, but…"

"Say no more." Alex walked over to the café's front desk. "A table for two."

"Do you have a reservation?" The snootiness came off the man in hurricane-sized waves.

"Yes… its under 'I have five grand in my jacket that could be yours.' " The man stared at Alex for an uncomfortable amount of time.

"Right this way sir." The man said smiling then led Alex and Luz to an outside garden table. "Tea or coffee?" He said, eager to please as the greed shined through his eyes.

"Coffee for me." Luz said as she sat down in the chair Alex had pulled out for her.

"And for the gentleman?"

"Lemonade." Alex said as he sat down across from Luz. The man hands the two menus and left to get them their drinks. "So what could possess a man to leave a woman such as yourself all alone?" Alex said smiling, he knew exactly what.

"He has important work and it causes him to put it before me. I don't understand why he has to explode every time something doesn't go his way." After Luz said, slightly surprised at herself for opening up to such a degree. She needed to turn to the conversion away from Angelo. "So what is it that you do for a living?"

"I used to be a doctor, a very successful one at that, but then the company I worked at… well to make a long story short they suffered a failure too big to survive. I however came out of the disaster unharmed and now I use my wealth to invest in a few startups and I do quite well in the stock market. I am quite stable in my finances." Alex wasn't even telling a whole lie, he was just reshaping the truth.

"Are you from Stilwater, I would have a hard time to believe so."

"No, I am here for my sister. She has had a hard life and I feel that I should help, family is often the only ones you can truly rely on." The man came back with their drinks. "But I have found I enjoy Stilwater, and I have thought about moving here in a more permanent fashion."

"Is that so, I have to ask why?"

"Well for one, I have found a new group of people that I think can help me and my sister as well as provide a new business opportunity. But the biggest reason of all is that I find the city has a raw truth that is lacking in others I have lived. People here are honest in their faults, I prefer that. People simply need to have their true feelings out." Alex gave out a small chuckle. "And when I say feelings I mean feelings. I once knew a man that would say whatever came to mind no matter if it should have stayed there. Honesty is an admirable goal but decency is a greater one." He wasn't even lying at all at this point. Other than lying to survive and the odd white lie, Alex found that honesty made things go a lot smoother. This had been proven by his relationship with Karen, the treacherous witch that had lied about not selling him out to Blackwatch.

"Those are commendable views." Luz couldn't explain the feeling she experienced when this man spoke, she waited for each word to leave the man's mouth and every fiber of her being soaked in every last one.

"I would hope to think so." Alex smiled, before sipping his drink.

"Are you two ready to order?" the waiter for their table asked.

"I… would… ah…" Luz could barely make a complete thought let alone a sentence. That smile that he had had struck her with a sense of attraction that she hadn't felt in her life.

"Is something wrong?" Alex knew what happened, the strain had encroached even deeper into her brain from a minute ago. Very soon the infection would progress to the point where it would become impossible for her not think about him at the very least five times a day. He probed into the hive mind and eased to the strain it was putting on her mind so she could at least think.

"Um… no, it's nothing." Luz said, slightly catching her breath.

* * *

Ragland put his phone back down, he had just finished his conversion with Tanya. He had yet to create a strong enough anti-virus to the Pinklight, so until then all contact to his test subject would be done through phone. The information she gave was truly fascinating. After the strain had stabilized and her mind had come back to her she was able to feel out her powers by instinct. The virus had apparently built in the knowledge on how to use her new powers during her rampage. She knew instantly how she could control people, how to form and manipulate the tendrils extending out from her feet to infect any that came near. These acted like the third generation, but the effect was far more complex and effective. The speed of the infection would increase with proximity and direct contact. Also unlike the rest of the Pinklight generations the infected slaves were not connected to the hive mind but instead directly to Tanya. The range of the tendrils was small but that was of little consequence. Ragland processed this new information, but his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. It was the sniper Ragland had used to scare the girl.

"Your money is ready, I do hope that we could do business again." The doctor said as he opened a cabinet and pulled out the a large briefcase. He handed the money over to the sniper. The man thanked Ragland for the job and left, just some ex-armed forces hired gun Mr. Sharp had recommended from his many connections to the underworld. Ragland walked back over to his notes. He sipped on a glass of water as he picked up his notes on the Pinklight strain.

The first generation of what would become the Pinklight was simple. All it did was two things, provide a connection to the hive mind and secondarily turn the blood black. The connection to the hive mind on a normal infected Walker was what kept the infected zombies from killing each other, their brains having deteriorated to a degree that turns them into feral monsters. The Hive Mind provided them with the only form of higher brain function, but when the brain is properly functioning the connection to the hive mind is just that, a connection. Alex said that when he tried to control a human subject from the brothel with the first generation all _he_ got was something like feedback and the subject just had a slight headache.

The second generation was far more interesting. Ragland had come to call it the Worker strain, due to it effectively turning people into the human equivalent of a worker ant. The human subject they had tested this on at first seemed unaffected, but then a week later when the strain had taken full control it was quite apparent this was not the case. The subject had lost all but the most basic memories of his life, and his personality had diminished as well. The strain had improved the connection to the Hive Mind, but it also made the subject dependent on it for higher brain function. The subject was only able to feed and clean himself, and their bodies were mentally beyond the needs of food, water, and sleep unless the Hive Mind willed it. It wasn't useful at the moment as it was too conspicuous to non-infected, but it would certainly be so later on.

The third generation was the one Alex was using right now. It would act dormant until the hive mind gave it two orders, what to feel and towards who. The feelings were limited to ones caused by the brain, and the who was limited to only those also in the hive mind.

Generations four through seven were duds, they caused the brain to overloaded and fry. Ragland had begun thinking that the third was the closest he was going to get, but then he moved off into a different direction, he chose to try out Alex's conditioning idea. _That_ produced the eighth generation, able to cause certain biological reactions through the five senses.

The ninth generation was far too unstable to be useful. But Ragland was able fix in the tenth generation. The tenth was the greatest of them all, by taking all of the other previous generations and fusing them with Alex's perfect strain he was able to create the one that flowed in Tanya's body right now. Ragland felt tremendous pride over what he had created, he looked over to the second cold storage he had hidden from Alex. The strains he told Alex had been stolen were but a few of the ones that he had discovered. He smiled at the possibilities that lay open to him.

* * *

Alex finished off the rest of his raspberry cheesecake. It was good, not too stiff, yet it didn't fall apart, just a little too sweet but it was good enough for him. He looked back at the empty chair across from him and smiled. Angelo had come back, and to say the least he was not happy with what he saw. His anger rolled off Alex's calm and relaxed disposition, which frustrated the man even further. The whole event worked perfectly in that Angelo came off looking the part of the angry, moronic, possessive, jealous soon-to-be-ex-lover while Alex looked just golden.

"I would say that my work is just about done." Alex said smugly as took another sip from his glass.

* * *

"Manuel, you worry too much, everything is under control." Hector said tersely, though he was hiding the worry that was bubbling under his face. The drug factory was the last local source for product he had in Stilwater. Now he had to buy it from the Colombians until he could bring production back. From the outside it would seem like the Colombians would like this development but no, in reality they would see this as weakness.

"I've heard some nasty rumors, Hector." Manuel said mildly from across Hector.

"Like what?" Hector said trying to keep the mood light and in control.

"That one of your drug labs was shut down."

"One of our couriers thought he could cut the shit out of his deliveries. It looked like we were missing a lot of product, it was really was just this pendejo. Angelo took care of him." Hector lied, but the deception was necessary.

"And the drugs?"

"Found."

"What about this gang from Saint's Row?"

"A bunch of _mulas_ , a nuisance, nothing more." Hector needed to pass them off as such until he had the support of the Colombians, once he had that he would destroy said threat, then the Vice Kings and then those upstart Rollerz.

"Your father would have killed them all by now." Manuel knew exactly how to push Hector's one and only button, his father.

"I am **not** my father." Hector knew he was _better_ than his father.

"I've noticed." Hector was about to do something he would regret later but was interrupted by the sound of Luz's furious scream. Both Hector and Manuel looked to watch Luz walk out of the Villa with Angelo behind her.

"Hey, don't you walk away from me, _puta_!" Angelo yelled back at the woman.

" _Ay, Angelo! ¿qué te pasa? Alex es más un hombre que tú!_ " Luz retorted back in Spanish, asking what had gotten into him and saying that the person she had met was far more of a man than he was.

"Woman, you listen to me—" But Angelo was interrupted by his enraged brother who yelled at the two of them to either behave or leave.

 _"¡Yo estoy intentado trabajar aquí! ¡O se comportan o salgan de mi casa ya!"_

They hurried away, and Hector could hear Manuel get up behind him.

"You're right. Looks like everything is under control, Hector. We'll talk about this more when the others arrive." Manuel calmly said before walking away leaving him to fester in his anger.

* * *

Alex was thinking over his plan with Luz. He was unsure at the moment. He knew that he had her in the palm of his hand, and yet he felt his scheme was incomplete. The story he was giving her was that he was a wealthy, smart, and caring man, that he had a sister, that he was in town for her and was staying for the city and a group of business partners, though Luz didn't know it was the Saints. The story was good, so that wasn't what it was. Then it hit him, even after the Saints crushed the Carnales she would still be around. Alex leaned back in his beach chair. He had decided to finish the day off by watching the sun set on one of Stilwater's sandy shores. Luz was at first a means to an end, a way to fuck with the Carnales, but he found he actually enjoyed her company… well in a sense that she would likely never disagree with his view and even more likely change her own to his. But even with that knowledge he still found her company preferable to that of most people.

He knew he wasn't falling in love with the woman, such an ironic twist had crossed his mind as possibility but it had just given him a nice laugh. For one thing he knew how the brain acted when in love and his brain was _not_ currently in those conditions, and two he had to be honest with himself. As he told Luz earlier today, he didn't feel that he could feel love again. After he had consumed Karen in that elevator, after he had hunted her down for her betrayal, he felt like a piece of him was barred away. He theorized that the Blacklight had evolved him past the ability to feel romantic love in order to protect himself from the same betrayal at the hands of a different person. He kept this theory to himself as he didn't know if it was true or not. He still felt the same familial love for Dana and the old man, but nothing except for that. Alex sighed at these thoughts before taking another sip of beer as he stared out into the sky, the sound of waves hitting the shore in the background.

Suddenly, a presence brushed up against his in the hive mind. He could feel that someone within it was walking towards him, and since there were only two full-time residents and one who had disconnected themselves, that meant it could only be Luz. This was unexpected, he hadn't planned for her to seek him out. The hive mind was the only way she could have found him, and that meant she was unconsciously looking for him. She'd probably had a really big fight with Angelo and left, only to wander around and find her way to the beach where he was relaxing.

"Something wrong…? You're kinda staring." Alex said after a few minutes. He now at least knew that the strain in her had taken enough control to make her brain start seeing him as a favorable sexual mate and thus her body followed the trend.

"Oh… sorry." Luz hadn't realized she had been staring, he was only wearing a baseball cap and a pair of black and red swimming trunks. The view of his uncovered body was quite distracting.

"So how'd you find me?" Alex said, he knew the answer but it was the normal thing to ask but he still played it off like it was no big deal.

"I wasn't looking, I was… walking around and saw you down here. I just, I needed someone to talk to."

"You remember that group I said I was working with?" Alex said taking a bit of a gamble.

"Ah… yes?" Luz said unsure if he had heard her, he just dismissed her call for help so easily, it felt unnerving to her.

"They might help you with your problem." Alex felt the need to bring her over to his side, to the Saint's side. This part was very important and difficult, with or without the strain in her body. She would grow to love him but not the Saints and might see them as a threat to her and him. But if she saw them as something that helps bring them together, however fake it would be, then it works out much better for Alex in the long run. "You just had a fight with that immature man from earlier, right?"

"Yes." Luz said sitting down in the sand next to Alex as the sun began to drift below the horizon.

"I can understand what you're going through, you have been with him for so long that being without him is hard to understand. But things can be better." Alex was careful to avoid saying anything sounding like them being together, that was not what he needed or wanted. No, what he wanted was a very one-sided relationship, while he knew it was cruel and many kinds of wrong he knew was better than any other option to her at this point even if she had never had the strain in her. She would either die by his hands for being with the Carnales or be left alone with no one once the the gang had been destroyed. What he was giving her was life and happiness, it might be a lie but it was still better than the alternative. "I want to help you…" Alex said sitting up to look her in the eyes. "… but only if you are with us, and only us." He had timed this just right, the proximity had sped up the strain in Luz and caused it to go to the point of conscious love. Luz pushed forward and with that one kiss Alex got his answer


	11. Illumination

_Glass, in front of him was glass. A glass pod, in it was…. something, something human but more. They were all in glass. He could feel them, he could feel their souls. They were strong, they were family. They held no part of him, but at the same time they did. The ground underneath cracked but he didn't notice, he didn't even notice when it burst out and the red, green, blue light poured in and enveloped the room. The light tried to touch him but a cloak of pure darkness covered him as the glass vanished. Each and every one was taken from his eyes and he did nothing to stop it, he didn't know what was happening but at the same time he understood it. A slight frown was the only response that came to him._

Alex's eyes opened. He was laying on the luxury kingsize bed of the penthouse suite in the only four-star hotel in Stilwater. Next to him holding onto his body was Luz. Alex smiled as he slowly leaned up against the headboard. The fun they had was quite enjoyable, perhaps moreso for her then him. The virus within her caused her to become receptive to certain commands sent by Alex through physical touch. Alex had discovered this halfway through their transit to the hotel, during which the two had somewhat already started much to the dismay of the cab driver. He had discovered that if he focused on his touch that he could access the nervous system and hijack it to send certain signals. Alex had begun to calling this as causing "skin orgasms." This was what in fact what he was doing, he would hijack the nervous system in the skin and cause it to send back the same signal that would be sent during an orgasm. This new addition to the strain in Luz certainly made the final phase of his indoctrination easy, her mind and body were practically putty in his hands. The mind saw him as the perfect romantic partner and the body could never see anyone else as an equal sexual mate.

Alex looked out the window and across the view of the Stilwater skyline, and it _was_ a pretty damn good view. Then he looked around at the penthouse suite he rented with the first batch of the Saints' drug money he had received for all he had done for the gang. Then he looked down at the gorgeous woman at his side. Part of him felt overjoyed at all of this, he was currently tasting a kind of life that few could have. Another part of him felt hollow, it was that part of him that wanted to return to sleep and the dream he just had. To return and find those in the dream that had given him a sense of family.

Dreams like that had always come to him, hazy symbolic messages from the deepest subconscious part of his mind, at least that's what he's father said they were. Alex wasn't sure on that, dreams were just dreams at some times. Even so, this one felt deeper than just a normal one, family was important to him but it had always been something that had a bit of irony to him. His blood family dumped him the day he was born and his true family was made of people he held no relation to. It was this family that saw past whatever made people hate him so much.

Alex slowly and carefully got out of the bed so as not to wake Luz. He walked barefoot out onto the balcony and after a few stretches sat down to continue watching the dawn. His plan to gain control over Luz was on the verge of completion and now he had some time think about how would he implement her. Angelo must have realized something happened when she didn't return. Any plan of using her as a mole was limited, it was too late in this gang war to be useful. Plus, Angelo would not be stable mentally and would most likely hurt her. This thought aggravated Alex, he knew this came from a place of instinct. Much like the Alpha of a pack protecting the Omegas, Luz was now a part of his Hive and as such she was under his protection; he would not send her into danger unless the situation warranted it. It currently did not. He took a deep breath.

"The _Carnales have lost half of their territory, they have also lost their enforcer… that means there might be members that could be bought off. The threat of Victor coming for them is gone. Luz can tell me who might be willing to talk. I know that tomorrow Hector is meeting with the Cartel, I'll make a move then but Angelo will quickly pick up the pieces. He's going to want to prove to the Colombians and the Carnales that he's in control. Today I'll make the bribes and payoffs, then tomorrow I'll take Hector out. Then… I don't know yet; I'll see how things turn out after I turn Hector into worm food._ "

* * *

Dana was watching bad early morning TV when she heard the knock on the apartment door. She groaned and got up off the couch.

"I have a shotgun so you better not lie when I ask who the fuck are you?"

"It's Julius. Can I come in?" That _was_ Julius' voice. This was not a good thing, Victor was sleeping in Alex's room, Alex very rarely actually winding up sleeping in his own room. He just slept in parks, the church, in his car, or whatever woman's apartment he had sex with the night before.

"Give me minute, I'm not wearing anything." Dana lied as she rushed over the trash and beer cans to Alex's room and shoved Victor off the bed to wake him. Victor looked over the bed to see Dana mouth the words "SAINT IS COMING IN, TIE YOURSELF UP". He nodded and looked over to the nearby radiator. Dana nodded in agreement and walked back to door. "Alright I'm letting you in." She opened the door to let Julius in.

"Thanks, sorry for comin' in so early." Julius said as he walked into the trashed apartment.

"So why are you here? If you're looking for Alex, I have no clue where he is."

"Nah… your brother took a certain man prisoner and I just want to know happened to him."

"You talking about the big Mexican dude that's chained to the radiator in Alex's room?" Dana said as she walked over to the door to Alex's room. She opened it for Julius and he carefully walked into the sight of Victor handcuffed to the room's radiator. He could in fact free himself in a second but Julius didn't know that.

"Goddamn! I honestly thought Dex was lying." Julius said as he looked over the former enforcer of the Carnales. "Has he been talking?"

"Alex has been… working him over. He learned where the biggest nerve endings are in college, so torture is as simple as just stabbing him in the right spots. But he's a tough bastard, hasn't given up anything." Julius looked at the chained man who looked gave back a smug look of defiance.

"Well… if he hasn't said anything from all that then I don't think I can do any more." Julius said as he closed the door behind him. "I wasn't expectin' that, but it's good to know Alex has it handled." Julius said as he started walking to the door out of the apartment.

"Hey wait." Dana said reluctantly, Julius stopped and looked back. "This is the first time Alex has ever actually… well… cared about something. I mean… this gang of yours is the first group he's actually tried to be a part of. He never had any friends, everyone just kind of hated him from the first moment they met him."

"You can understand if I have a hard time believing that. Nobody hates someone that quickly."

"They did when it was Alex, right up until he turned eighteen. After that he started making people hate him just by being a dick. I guess he just got fed up with people. There were a few that were able to get past him and actually were able to bring back the old him out again. But it never really lasted. These past weeks have been the first time Alex has had people on his side or to be more accurate he's on their side. What I'm trying to say is that he's in this Saints thing for the long haul."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to remember that."

* * *

Luz woke up to the morning light creeping into the master bedroom, the smell of breakfast coming from the door to the rest of the penthouse, and the sound of classic rock music. She noticed that Alex wasn't next to her and smiled, she had always dreamed of a man cooking breakfast for her, something that Angelo hadn't and would never do. She quickly dressed herself in one of the soft robes the hotel had out for their guests and walked out to the living area of the penthouse.

"So I assume that last night's fun is my answer then." Alex said as he placed a cup of coffee on the kitchen's bar in front of Luz as she sat down on one of the stools. She was initially confused by the question but then remembered what the man in front of her was talking about. Before she could respond, Alex laid out a plate of master-class food in front of her. "I do hope that you will be joining, I would hate to lose you." He smiled, his words were perfectly selected. He was forging the association in her mind that without the Saints their relationship would be in danger of ending. After all, with the exception of their first meeting he had never made a solid move toward her, everything after that first meeting was either chance or moves made by her, or at least that's what it appeared to be. There was no link between them that was made by Alex, no evidence that he felt the same way she did. He would make her feel that in order to continue their relationship in any form she needed to be part of the Saints.

"Yes… my answer is yes." She said, she could never say no to that smile, it filled her with emotions that she had never felt before.

"Thank you, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other far more often." Alex said as he took his own plate, this was in fact his fourth. For right now she would provide him with information and be used to cause chaos in the leadership of the Carnales. But after the Carnales were dealt with she would become… well Alex saw it as being a trophy mistress… although he did admit that the term sex slave could also be applied. Even that was slightly inaccurate, she had free will in a form, she could leave whenever she wanted to but Alex simply made it so she would never want to. Alex still knew that it was far better than death, she would be living a life of happiness and luxury. He certainly like the idea of moral gray areas. Alex walked pass Luz and on to the living room, she had leaned forward for a kiss from him but he had ignored her. He still needed to finish the indoctrination, the final phase of which began with him being distant. This denial of himself to her would tell her subconsciously that he in fact did not love her, that his care and affection was platonic. This information needed to be something known to her but on a subconscious level, if he would tell her this out loud then it would cause her to try and earn his love, and how she would do this would be unpredictable. Unpredictability was something Alex did not want at all.

The viral Don Juan reached over to turn off the radio and looked back out onto the Stilwater skyline. Alex sighed as he started on his plate of food and spoke again. "I'm sure you're wondering as to what organization I belong to, I'll give you a hint." Without looking at Luz he pointed to the purple roses on the nearby table. It took a few seconds before Luz figured out the answer.

"You're with the Saints?"

"Does this matter?" Alex's voice was cold, uncaring, and drove home that this wasn't a choice that was being given but demanded.

"No… not at all."

"Good, that is good news." Alex said brightly before taking his last bite. "I'll be back in a few hours, I need to attend to some business." He said as he started walking to the door. There was a silence as he closed the door behind him. This would be his final test, if she stayed and waited for him then it would prove that her indoctrination was complete.

* * *

Atshushi was in a stupor, it had been days since he had gotten that email from the Director and nothing had happened. Not only had nothing happened to him, but nothing had happened with Blackwatch, not so much as a peep from their alert system.

"Um? Sir?" the sound of his assistant snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yes, what is it Harris?"

"You wanted to know when one of the projects were finished, number three has finished trials and requires your oversight for implementing."

"Ah yes… which lab will the operation take place?""

"Alpha sir."

"Very well." Atshushi said as he spun out of his chair. He shuffled out of his office and down the hallway to the operating room marked as Alpha. He _needed_ this to distract him from the Director. Project three was the creation of a implantable secondary heart. Its primary function would be to enhance the performance of a human body by supplying more oxygen and nutrients to the muscles via increased blood flow. The organ had to be grown outside of the body and then surgically implanted in a human body, and it was predicted that the receiver of the implant had to young so that the body would still be able to correctly adapt to the new addition. The older the recipient, the more likely the body would reject the new heart, so at the moment they were using an age range of fifteen to seventeen. Atshushi walked through the doors to the observation room overlooking the operating theater. The doctors were waiting for their superior to give them the go ahead. From behind the glass, Atshushi nodded to the head surgeon and received a nod in return. The doctors turned to the subject on the operating table. Atshushi watch them make the first incision and noticed that the second was made right above the femoral artery.

"In conjunction with the second heart a special organ will be implanted to alter the composition of the subject's blood to add the extra oxygen and the necessary nutrients required for the heart." Atshushi's assistant read off the report he had in his hand.

"The last few subjects had died a few hours after the procedure when the subject's veins burst from the increased pressure, was this issue fixed?"

"Yes, we sacrificed performance for viability. The size of the second heart was reduced by a third and the new secondary organ now produces the correct nutrients to strengthen the tissue in and around the veins." The two watched the operation continue, the doctors making each cut and stitch with absolute precision. Atshushi continued to watch with such determined focus that he hadn't noticed that someone had entered the room and quietly dismissed his assistant.

"Looks promising." A well-dressed man calmly said from behind Atshushi. "Don't turn, just keep looking forward." The scientist did as the man said. "You know why I'm here. You did the right thing in keeping Zeus a secret."

"But why?" The hairs on Atshushi's neck stood straight up, he could feel an unexplainable pressure coming off the man behind him. He was terrified, that was the only word that could describe how he felt.

"You are young for your position, handpicked out of a select group of _extraordinary_ people. You show a keen mind in your field, and despite your young age you understand the politics of academia. You are truly exceptional. But… at the same time you are completely and utterly replaceable." There was a stifling air of dread that hung around after this statement. "Zeus is not Greene; it is not contagious, and as such the response Blackwatch would give to the information that Zeus is in Stilwater would be… unnecessary. So you were right in keeping this from the rest of Blackwatch."

"W-What are you going to do?"

"Your family lives in Osaka, correct? Mother and father run a few street shops and a brother who works for the city to maintain the roads. They must be proud of you, but at the same time I'm sure they must miss you."

"Please don't…"

"You did well, but that doesn't mean you need to know things that are beyond you. Keep up the good work and you shall know nothing of the suffering that could so easily befall you." The man said before calmly walking out of the room and only once he heard the door click shut did Atshushi release the worry building up in the form of a deep sigh of relief.

* * *

Alex quietly landed on the roof of the Carnales' Villa, he had glided off the nearby apartment building and had made it through without anyone noticing. He climbed down the tile roof and through one of the windows into one of the bedrooms that was at the moment unoccupied. This little home invasion was him simply indulging his curiosity of how Angelo was coping with the loss. Alex smiled, he knew quite well that Angelo knew about what happened, as part of the fun of last night was the idea Luz had to send a voicemail recording of shouts and moans of pure ecstasy to his cell phone. It was something only a psychopath or a hurt woman would do, and Alex and Luz filled those roles.

Peering through the walls, his thermal vision picked out Angelo with Hector following close behind. Alex moved over to the door and opened it just enough to allow his enhanced hearing to give him access to the brothers' conversion.

"You can't go now! The Colombians are on our doorstep and you're going to ruin it over _una mujer_!" Hector yelled to his brother.

"I can't let this go on! She is out there with another man…" Angelo said turning back to his brother.

"Not for long she isn't." Hector said, Alex could hear the finality and smugness in the man's voice.

" _¿Qué? ¿Qué quieres decir?_ "

"One of our boys works at the hotel where the _puta_ stayed, I sent some of our men to deal with her an hour ago."

"What?! No, she is mine to bring back!"

"Did I say they were bringing her back, no. I sent a hit squad, Luz has my green light."

"How dare you!" Angelo pulled his brother up by his collar and slammed him against the nearby wall.

"Angelo! Get a hold of yourself!" Angelo let his brother down but was still enraged. "The woman knows too much and is getting in the way of business. You are my brother and I love you… or at the very least I'm _trying_ to. But if you don't calm down and get back to work then I'm going to make good on my threat." Angelo stormed off and Hector began walking up the stairs to his bedroom, but when he got there Alex was already gone and heading back to the hotel. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt Luz, she was now part of his Hive. She was under his protection and he was going to enforce it. He wanted to go down those stairs and slaughter everyone he could get his hands on, but that would waste time, he knew that they all were dead men walking anyways, they just had a little more time now.

Alex's jumps cleared city blocks, his leaps carrying him from building to building until he landed in range of the hotel where Luz was. He jumped onto the glass face of the hotel and began running upward, shattering each pane with every step until he made it to the top and then turned back down to guide himself to the penthouse balcony. He crashed to the balcony floor and kicked the door down. The Carnales already inside turned to the door and opened fire on Alex, but each shot bounced off. Before they could react, he walked over to the nearest gang member and with a single move grabbed his neck and snapped it like a twig. Without blinking, he snatched the man's gun and shot each remaining gang member with a single bullet to the forehead.

Alex looked around, scanning the room for Luz, he froze when he saw her hand coming out from behind one of the chairs. He quickly walked over only to be met with a pool of blood under the woman. Alex sighed in disappointment at the fact he killed the Carnales so quickly before kneeling down next to her. Her heartbeat was faint, she wasn't yet dead but her life was on the verge. He touched her shoulder and sent thousands of his own microscopic tendrils into her body, following the strain in her they weaved through and repaired anything that was damaged. The bullet was quickly dislodged, the wound closed and healed, and the blood that had been lost was replaced. With a quick jolt to the brain Luz rejoined the living in a gasp for air.

"Shhhhh, It's fine, you're okay." Alex said trying to comfort her. Once she saw his face she quickly moved to embrace him and after a moment of thought he responded in kind. "Don't worry, I protect my own." Alex quietly stated as Luz's tears ran down his shoulder.

* * *

A man stood in an elevator feeling satisfied. He had just finished a meeting with a child, a smart child but a child nonetheless. The man had lived a long time and had never in all that time understood children. He didn't understand the desire to have them, nor the desire to be around them. Still, even children knew what power was, and _that_ was something he did understand. After finishing with straightening his gold tie he pulled out his phone.

"Sir, I have finished the meeting… no, he will no longer be of any concern. As for Zeus, I think a data quarantine and the normal bribes to the news outlets will be enough… Yes, the Blacknet for Stilwater will be placed on loop… No, not from what I observed. I think one of the Psi-team from our main branch will be enough. Yes sir, orders will be to observe and report to you directly." At that moment the small ding of the elevator stopping sounded. "If that is all sir I have arrived at my next meeting… of course sir." The man put his phone away and walked through the open door. He made his way down the darkened hallway until he came to the only office in the building. He pressed his thumb to the keypad and heard the small prompting sound for the audio password. " _We are the watchers of the soul, we shall be the devils of the world to hide the truth from the world, we shall hunt those that seek out the truths, sanity is lies, truth is madness, we fight the power that seeks to ruin us all, we are the Illuminati._


	12. The End of the Carnales

Alex looked through the scope of the McManus, a highly powerful and surprisingly easy-to-buy sniper rifle. His target was Hector Lopez, leader of the Carnales. Alex was going to enjoy killing this bastard, the very idiot that ordered the hit on Luz, and he wasn't about to let that insult go unanswered. It was true that Hector didn't know that trying to kill Luz would incite the wrath of Zeus but still, the dirtbag couldn't be allowed to walk around anymore. He had already killed off the Carnales guards on the cargo ship and now his crosshairs were right over Hector's head. When the Cartel showed up, it would look more like a nice and easy betrayal than an assassination. Alex was humming along to the song _My Band_ from D12 that was playing in his ears as he watched the Cartel walk up to Hector.

" _All because I'm the lead singer of_ …" Alex took the shot and killed Hector with one perfectly placed bullet. "… _my band_." He continued to hum along with the song as he silently stepped back to the edge of the roof he was standing on. Slowing his descent down to the ground Alex held onto the brick wall with his claw until his boots hit the pavement. He could hear the shouts of confusion and anger. The sounds quickly escalated and gave way to those of gunfire. Alex smiled at the whole event, while it might have been a little anticlimactic it was no less satisfying. He started walking back to his car, thinking about Hector's death. Alex felt no remorse in it, he had attack Luz, and for better or worse for her, she was now part of his Hive. As a Viral Being, his hive was his family, and something he would never allow was for someone to hurt said family. Now, all that was left was Angelo. With Hector dead and Victor gone, the _hermanito_ had little in the way of holding on to the Carnales. Alex knew the best and easiest way to finish the gang off was to bribe and threaten the rest. The only thing Angelo could do was use the threat and resources of the Colombians as a reason to keep the gang together. If he was smart, the deal wouldn't wind up completely ruined by Alex's actions, and Angelo would sacrifice some of the profit margin to the Cartel to keep them interested. Alex knew that wasn't the case and that Angelo wouldn't keep a cool head. The man's brother was just killed, his woman taken from him, and his gang stampeding to join up with the enemy, and considering Angelo's already hot temper it was clear to Alex just how the battered gang leader would react. Alex got in the driver side of his car and, with a smile on his face, texted Luz that the bastard was dead. Luz responded with a picture of herself with nothing on but some whipped cream with the caption reading _"Good, I got dinner ready."_

"Oh yes… I knew she'd be fun." Alex laughed as he closed his car door.

* * *

The next morning Alex was driving to the church. He had gotten a text from Julius saying to meet him, Dex, and Troy there as soon as he could. Luz was cutely disappointed in Alex's leaving but as expected followed his wishes. He had felt worried when he left, something seemed off about Luz's strain. It didn't hold the mutation instinct that caused the strain to change in the face of near death, but something still felt strange ever since he had saved her. Deciding to look into it when he returned to the hotel, Alex walked through the doors of the church and walked over to Julius, Troy and Dex. Julius was in the process of lecturing Dex on the concept of the chain of command.

* * *

"Julius, I don't see what the big deal is." Dex said trying to defend his actions.

"The _deal_ is that you tried to talk to the Colombians without me." Julius was not happy at Dex's overstepping of his station since Dex was to handle the Carnales and not the Cartel.

"Someone want to fill me in on what happened?" Alex said as he jumped onto one of the overturned pews.

"And you… where the _hell_ have you been for the past few days, the Carnales are getting desperate and I need everyone that can fight in case they try something stupid."

"Don't worry, I got pictures." Alex smiled as he pulled out his phone and brought up one of the several revealing and erotic photos of Luz he had sent to Angelo for no other reason than to piss him off.

"Is…. is that who I think it is?" Dex asked wide eyed.

"Damn straight it is." Alex said, quite proud.

"Damn." Both Dex and Troy said together. Alex looked at Julius expecting something similar to Dex and Troy reaction through a bit more restrained. But what he saw instead was Julius' normal " _You're going to explain this now_ " face.

"So I seduced Angelo's plaything, all it will do is just make Angelo even more unstable. Is it so bad that I get to have a little fun at his expense?" Alex said, smiling and raising his eyebrows as he tried to sound as innocent as he could. Julius just sighed. He knew why Alex did this, but the reasons weren't the problem, it was how the man could do it so quickly and effectively.

"What will happen to her once the Carnales are finished off, did you think of that, playa?"

"Yes I did, and I fully intend to keep her. I put in a lot of effort to… you're going to be mad when I use the word indoctrinate, aren't you?" Julius just sighed again while rubbing his forehead.

"You know what, I'm going to ignore your mumbo-jumbo because I got bigger worries right now." Julius looked back at Dex. "Tell me everything you know about the Cartel." Dex led Julius and Alex over to the nearby table. Dex took out a picture of a chubby balding elderly man.

"This is Orejuela." Troy said as Julius and Alex looked over the picture.

"And he's the mouth piece for the Colombians?" Alex asked, feigning ignorance.

"Yeah." Dex answered.

"And he's in Stilwater?" Julius asked.

"Yup." Dex answered again.

"Interesting." Julius said as he thought over the what Dex had tried to do. It was a good plan, but Dex was merely a 3rd Street Saint lieutenant and as such didn't have the authority to make such a deal. "Where were the two of you lookin' for this guy?"

"Around the normal places a drug lord would be, strip clubs." Troy answered.

"Alright, let's go buy this drug lord a lap dance." Alex said, fairly excited at this plan.

"Now hold up. I'm going to meet with him, _alone_ , Troy, you're goin' to come as back up but the two of you stay here. I don't want to come back with the church painted red." Julius said as he started walking out. Troy just gave back a shrug and a slightly sympathetic look and after one last glance at Alex's phone followed Julius out of the church.

"Well that's just great!" Dex said as he kicked over a chair.

"What's the big deal, so Julius meets with the Cartel's guy. He is the boss." Alex said, his voice had changed from the light and friendly he had when he walked into something a bit more serious and had hint of malice. Alex had come to respect Julius, the man was straightforward, the fact that that all he wanted was for the Saints to conquer the city for the sole purpose of ending the violence of the constant gang wars that plagued Stilwater was plain to see. Dex, on the other hand…. it was harder to get a read on what it was Dex wanted. He couldn't tell if it was money, power, respect, but he could tell it was something else than Julius' noble goals.

"Listen, I know that Julius is the boss but that doesn't mean he needs to do everything. He put me in charge of the Carnales and the Colombians are working with the Carnales."

"There's a difference between a street gang like the Carnales and an international drug cartel." Alex said stoically. "Julius knows this, right now he's going to this guy to work out some kind of deal just to get us started with working with them. We're not going to get any offers until we prove we're worth the time."

"Worth the time?! We're about to put the Los Carnales in the ground… shit! Now Troy has me saying it." Alex held back the laughter at Dex's loss of composure.

"Right there, that's why Julius didn't want you meeting the Colombians. Arrogance, the downfall of even the mightiest of kings."

"Shit man, what are you, a philosopher or somethin'?" There was a long quiet that hung in the church. "You know man… there's always been somethin' not right about you. I never said anythin' because you always seemed like Johnny, there's something not right about him so I just thought you two were the same. But… Johnny would never talk like that, hell Johnny doesn't even know what the word philosopher means." Dex said as he walked around Alex, internally unsure why he was making this a big deal but for some reason his mind just couldn't get over all the clues laid out in front of him.

"I went to college remember, I'm a lot smarter then…"

"-yeah but that's the other thing." Dex said interrupting Alex. "Why would someone with your rep be a gangbanger. It doesn't add up. You act like Johnny most of the time, but your past says you should never be like that." Alex's senses began studying Dex closely, his heartrate was steady and he wasn't sweating, so the undercover bioweapon was sure he hadn't caught on to the truth. If he had the slightest inkling, then his body should be showing some form of fear.

"Does any of this really matter, I'm loyal. I'm on your side."

"Are you? Julius seems to trust you but he might be falling for your act." Dex said walking up Alex and poking his shoulder, only for his hand to be nonchalantly pushed away.

"What would I have to gain by lying?" Alex wasn't even remotely concerned about what Dex thought, he had shown the Saints nothing but loyalty. He knew Dex was by far the smartest of the Saints other than himself and Julius, so he knew that Dex would never bring this up to his boss when all he had were bad feelings. To do any real damage, he'd need something solid, and there wasn't any because Alex wasn't a traitor and there certainly wasn't any proof that Dex could get a hold of that would suggest that the man standing in front of him was anything more than what he had said he was. Dex was smart, but he wasn't "private eye" or "hacker" smart, and Alex's friends and family member would never betray him.

"I would say you might be a cop, but since you were there when the Saints were started I really don't think that's possible. A spy for the other players, that'd be more likely, but since no one has ever seen you before, there's not really much for that." Dex maneuvered back to the other side of the table as he tried to put some distance between him and Alex. He really didn't want to get into a fight, the man was already a legend for his oneshots and he had seen what he could do to people barehanded when the guy first join the Saints. Dex watched as Alex just sighed.

"I don't have to prove anything." Alex said, making it clear he had stopped taking Dex seriously. Alex turned to the left exit. "If the Carnales attack and you live through it, you can explain to Julius that you lost because you drove me off with your groundless accusations." He said as he walked out of the church. Dex waited until he was sure Alex had left before smiling.

'Glad he doesn't know that I _do_ have something on him.' Dex thought as he sat down and kicked his feet up on the table.

* * *

James Heller look out across the city of Stilwater, his arms crossed over his chest as he remembered the day that he had first started working with his current employers. He had just gotten back from his tour in the Marines and had been approached by three men in suits. Two of them looked almost the same with cropped black hair, pale skin, dark black shades covering their eyes, and blue ties, stereotypical G-men. The third had graying hair and equally gray eyes, with a gold tie making him stand out from the group. The third man handed James a file and a suitcase filled with cash, saying that his duty to his country was over and his duty to humanity was now being called on. James would have just ignored the man weren't it for the fact he now held in his hand enough money to make sure his wife and daughter would never need to worry about anything ever again.

Heller only asked two questions, what did they want him to do and would he see his family again. The man answered this by saying that he would be placed on a team of what he referred to as "Unique Assets," and that when not on the job he could do as he please. To Heller this seemed too good to be true. So he asked what would be this team's objective.

The man once again answered, though this time he seemed a bit happier to do so. Heller had begun to noticed that the other two men seemed to show no emotion at all, but the third he could tell was quite pleased by Heller's attitude. The man answered Heller's question by saying that the team acted as a recon and action squad, they would be given certain targets and tasked to observe, report, and if need be act on their acquired information. This action might be to eliminate the target or to bring them into the fold.

Heller was about to ask who the men represented, but the third man held up his hand to stop him. The mystery man said that they were simply the ones who kept at bay those that might do harm to humanity without meaning to or knowledge of. This answer gave Heller more questions than any real answers, but he could tell that this was some kind of black ops shit, stuff that would normally irritate him but before he could voice this opinion he was surprised by the sight of the third man chuckling. The man said that he sought Heller out not only because the man was truly exceptional but also because he despised the secrets of the world. The man told Heller that those very same secrets were kept by himself and those like him, but they needed men like Heller to remind them that there are people out there that deserve the truth and there are people out there that can handle the truth, and James Heller was one of the few people that resided in both.

That had been two years ago. Since then he had been told and shown things that he had never and still didn't care to know about. But he smiled at that, because that was the very reason why he had been hired. Heller walked back into the main cabin of the small ship that was taking him and most of his team to Stilwater.

* * *

Alex was riding the elevator back up to his hotel room, his mind drifting towards the Carnales Villa. He liked it, it was a really nice place and being owned by criminals he knew he could take it fairly easily and quietly. He was happy that he could leave the dirty rundown apartment and move to somewhere that clearly wasn't infested with rats and cockroaches. Alex sighed as the elevator chimed to signal that he had reached his floor. He needed to look into Luz's strain, it was still bugging him. But the second he stepped out of the elevator he felt something strange within the Hive Mind. The small light that was Luz was moving even closer to him. He knew what this meant, Luz was now growing even more dependent on his presence. Alex wasn't expecting this and was beginning to worry. If the strain within her caused her to become even a little more dependent on him then she wouldn't be able to live for more than a few hours with him. He quickly entered fully into the Hive Mind, moving all his focus and mind to Luz's strain. He now saw the problem, unlike most of the other Blacklight strain that appeared in the Hive Mind Luz's didn't completely dominate her, it worked within her. But now that was changing, the strain had fully developed and now was starting to grow more toward the normal Blacklight behavior. Alex could think of a few way this might have been caused, but the only one that he felt could work was that when he healed her it caused the strain to, in simple terms, jumpstart. The proximity to Alex's master strain had always accelerated Luz's strain's growth and when Alex's strain was in direct contact it must have induced this new development. It took him a few hours of standing completely still and focusing all his mind to manipulating the strain to prevent this unintended effect. Thankfully Alex didn't care in the slightest who saw him like this as several that passed by him on the way to the elevator had stopped to stare at the strange man just standing unresponsive to anyone. This ordeal was highly uncomfortable for Alex, to change the very nature of a Blacklight strain was something he had never tried before and it required him to connect his own conscious and subconscious to Luz's strain. The connection was a strange two-way street as the two parts of his mind interacted with the virus.

This was the only way he knew how to do this, and he hated where that knowledge came from: Elisabeth Greene's own memories. Once he had finished his task he let out a loud groan, he felt awful for using something he learned from… her. What was worse was the damage that most certainly was caused to Luz. He had successfully saved her from becoming a mindless drone with no thought or reason, but he knew that the strain had accessed his subconscious for far too long and there was no telling what it might have done to Luz's mind in the last few hours.

Alex walked to his penthouse, he was a little hesitant to open the door but knew that whatever was waiting for him on the other side would not go away. He sighed and braced himself for whatever could be on the other side as he opened the door. What he saw actually made him feel confused, he didn't see Luz anywhere. He had expected the strain to take his subconscious thought about what a sex slave should act like and imprint that on Luz or something like that, but when Alex walked in he couldn't see Luz. Even more confused, Alex wandered the penthouse looking for her but couldn't find her. When he walked through the door to bedroom he found himself pulled back and turned around. The next thing he knew Luz was passionately kissing his upper body.

"Welcome back love." She said in seductively heated tone that surprised Alex, but not enough to make him stop kissing back. Alex was genuinely confused at this, she wasn't changed at all. "So you did it? You killed that bastard Hector?" Luz excitedly said as they slowly moved toward the bed.

"Yeah, he'll never be able to hurt anyone ever…"

" _What was it like?_ " Luz interrupted Alex. He looked back into the eager eyes of Luz and that's when he began to get the faintest idea of what happened. "How was it to kill that bastard, did you shoot him, plant an explosive, find him in a dark ally and **cut** into…"

"Whoa… slow down." Alex said as he slightly pulled away with a savage grin on his face. "You're getting off on the idea of me killing Hector?"

"What?! No! that would be wrong." Luz said this but Alex knew that the way her body was reacting said something else.

"But it's true. And you know… I love it!" Alex voice turned rough and excited. "You might be as psychotic as myself." Alex moved forward and once again the two were interlocked in an intense kiss. The two once again fell back into the ecstasy of each other, moving back onto the bed. "And for the record, I shot him." Alex said as he threw his shirt off. The two continued on, and all through their carnal activities he continued to test his theory, that Luz had become just as mentally twisted as himself. He continued to regale her of all of kills, his stories growing more gruesome the more he told. To his surprise and eternal delight, this only increased Luz's arousal. This got to the point where Alex told her about what he was just to tell the truly horrific stories, and to his joy the sight of his claws only caused Luz to become more enthralled with him. By the end of their fun Alex understood completely what he had done, and couldn't care in the slightest about the woman he had erased because now she was someone else entirely. "That… I have to… say… was fun indeed." Alex said his breath labored and heavy.

"And who says it has to end?" Luz asked her finger lazily going over Alex's muscular chest, a smile fixed on her face as she laid on top of Alex under their bed's sheets.

"As much as I hate to say it… I do… don't give me that look. After all, the grand finale is in sight."

"Angelo..." Luz said, fully happy with the idea of Angelo dying. "Can I do it love, I want to be the one to kill him."

"Why of course, I'm a sucker for poetic justice, and after that's all taken care of we can move into that Villa of his and **fuck** in every room we can find."

"Looking forward to it." Luz said before leaning back in for another kiss.

* * *

"Dex! Alex!" Julius shouted as he walked back into the church with Troy behind him.

"They aren't here right now." Dana answered as she worked on her laptop in one of the pews.

"Well where are they?" Julius said, his anger clear from his tone.

"Dex was talking shit about Alex's loyalty and it pissed him off, and since he couldn't solve it his normal way he just pouted and left. Pretty sure he went back to his new girlfriend."

"Well that's just great, I need them if I'm going to get back all the drugs the cops seized at the docks." Julius was worried, he didn't have to big a window of opportunity, it was only a matter of time before either Angelo, King, or the Rollerz made their own move on the Colombians.

"Done." Dana said plainly.

"Done what?" Troy asked, but Julius had a pretty good idea.

"The drugs will be on a truck to the airport ready for pickup at eight thirty tonight. The Stilwater police have some of the worst firewalls I have seen, faking an evidence transfer order was easy." Dana didn't really care about the Saints, but she always enjoyed messing with law enforcement.

"Damn, I'll call Orejuela and tell him the news." Julius said walking away from Dana and Troy, this was the best news he had gotten this week.

"So uh… how'd you do that?" Troy asked as he slowly walked over to Dana.

"Why… you don't seem like the techy type." Dana replied rudely.

"No I'm not, but my idea involved a car blowing up… and this… is um…"

"Better?"

"Yeah."

"Are you a cop?" Dana just asked as bluntly as she could, not even looking up from her screen.

"What?" Troy was seriously shocked at this.

"You just got this cop thing about you… and your hair just belongs in some cheesy eighties buddy cop show."

" _No_ I'm not a cop."

"That's what a cop would say."

"Well what would someone who's not a cop say?"

"They'd say they are a cop but in a jokey way. Don't get me wrong, I honestly don't care, just know that Alex would kill you if he found out… even if you were in the middle of the station that wouldn't be enough to save you." Dana said with all the casualness of someone discussing the weather as she continued to work on her computer. She could feel Troy think over his options on what to do. When she finally looked up he was gone.

* * *

The next morning Alex, Dex and Julius were in a strip club finalizing the deal between the Cartel and the Saints. The first two weren't talking as much, which was good since Alex had been torn from the arms of his lover and Dex had been kicked awake from a drunken sleep. Julius had made it very clear that whatever happened between the two of them would be put to rest and to make up. Dex was still wary of Alex, but agreed to shake hands and get back to work. Alex on the other hand only appeared to be willing to work again, he knew that Dex still had doubts and would continue to watch him.

Alex had both the memories of drug dealers and successful businessmen, he could tell from watching the two men negotiate that Julius was getting the better end of the deal. Alex thought that maybe it was because Orejuela wanted to make a new deal quickly due to the unexpected fall of the Carnales, or maybe he was impressed by the Saint's ability to cause said fall. More likely both.

"Mr. Little, I think we can do business." Orejuela said as he shook Julius' hand.

"I'm glad we could work things out." Julius replied, his tone respectful.

"So how exactly would you like to move forward?" At that moment the door to the parking lot was kicked open and Angelo burst through, a rifle in his hand.

"You'll die for what you did to my brother, _hijo de puta_!" Angelo raged.

"I wonder if he means us or Manuel?" Dex joked before they all ducked for cover as Angelo spread down a hail of bullets. The four of them returned fire as Angelo scurried back to his car. Alex was about to run after him but stopped. He knew exactly where he was going and already had a plan.

Later that day, just as the sun began to dip under the water Alex stood in front of the gates to the Carnales' Vila. He smiled as Luz leaned in closer to his body, his arm already around her waist. With his other hand he brought up his phone to send a text to all of the Carnales he had in his pocket. The gates opened within minutes and five freshly turned Carnales stood at attention in front of them.

"How nice, but can we kill them as well?" Luz asked, the gangbangers visibly disturbed by her comment.

"You're just itching for blood aren't you… well, we could…" The former Carnales looked at Alex with disbelieving eyes. "… but that would dilute the meaning of tonight." The gangbangers sighed at this.

"Oh very well." The two of them walked up the driveway with three of their new men following while the other two stood guard. They quickly reached the front door and waited for it open. It soon did with another bought Carnales opening it for them.

"Angelo is in his room sir, he has no idea that you're here or that he lost our support." The man said as Alex and Luz nodded and walked through.

"Good, tell everyone to leave. None of you want to be here when **this** goes down." Alex said with a bloodthirsty grin that made the gangbanger go pale with fear but just made Luz even more excited. The former Carnales nodded and rounded up the rest of the men as they all left to stand guard outside. The two walked up the stairs until they were at the door of Angelo's room. They could hear Angelo on the phone, his voice was frantic as he bought tickets to Mexico. "The coward is running away."

"What did I ever see in the fool?"

"Doesn't matter." Alex kicked the door down and before Angelo could react Alex had his hand around his throat. "Hello." Alex held the man in the air while Luz just watched with almost childlike wonder. "Don't bother calling for help, your men seem to have lost their minds. For some reason they think that they work for me. I for one am not going to ruin their fantasy." Alex joked but Angelo had nothing but fire in his eyes. "Now here's the thing, you're going to die but the worst part of that isn't that you're going to die… no no no… it's that you're going to die at the hands of someone you once loved." It was at this moment that Alex pushed Angelo into a chair and extended his viral tissue over the man until it locked him in.

"What the hell is this?! What the hell are you?!" Angelo then looked over to Luz. "Luz, what are you doing?! Help me!" Luz walked over to Angelo and slapped him. "Agh! Big mistake puta!' She just slapped him again, this time drawing a little blood. She stared at the little drops of blood on her finger. Angelo was clearly frightened by the look in her eye but Alex just smiled as she licked the blood off her finger.

"I bribed one of the guards and he told me the most wonderful bit of information." Alex said turning to Angelo. "He said that your brother threatened to cut your dick off if you made the deal with the Colombians to fall through. Well… The Carnales are as of this morning not working with the Colombians." Alex said as he handed a knife to Luz and the viral tissue covering Angelo's lower half receded though keeping his legs restrained. "I think we should make good on that threat."


	13. All the King's Men

Julius looked over the crowd of former Los Carnales, all having been brought by Alex. He had to give the new recruit credit, Alex was certainly smart to bribe the majority of the remaining Carnales. This boost in manpower was sure to help with taking out the Vice Kings and the Rollerz. After the "Noche de Los Gritos," the "Night of Screams" as the Carnales were calling it, Alex told the rest that they would either join or be put out on the streets with no power or income. To no one's surprise, the last of the Carnales joined. Now, the Saints' former rivals were gathered in one of the abandoned warehouses in the docks. Julius was currently standing on a quickly-made platform, he needed to address these new recruits and make sure they understood that he was in charge.

"Listen up!" Julius yelled over the crowd of former enemies, they quieted down only once they saw Victor walk onto the platform. Victor had been Convinced to join the Saints as their enforcer. Julius had intended for Alex to fill that role, but he had proven to be too unpredictable to follow orders with restraint and precision. Victor on the other hand had experience in that field, and was willing to work in the open now that the Lopez Brothers had been taken care of. "Lemme lay it on the line: You all got nowhere to go but with us. I know what you're thinkin', 'why would I give my loyalty to the guys that just beat my crew?' Well the answer to that is simple, because you sorry motherfuckers have no other option. The Saints run south Stilwater now, ain't no gettin' around it. So now you all can either drop your flags and join my crew or sit back and shut up, because this is your one and only chance to take the fight to the Vice Kings and the Rollerz. We may have beaten you but they still are the ones who killed your friends and family, so I ask you all this… are you going to let that disrespect stand!?" There was no real response, just a few mumbles and whispers. Then, one Carnale shouted "hell no!" and the rest joined in. Julius was going to have to thank Troy later, because he wasn't sure that without that the rest would have joined. "Alright, then let's get ready to take back our city!" Julius finished his speech and turned to Victor. "I can assume that you can take care of things from here."

"Shouldn't be too hard… Where are you going?"

"I'm goin' back to the Row, I need to plan out our next move on the Vice Kings, I already got a spy working her way into the Rollerz but from what she has told me it will be quite a while before she is able to get anything useful. Their boss keeps careful watch on who gets in." Julius said before walking off the stage and over to door where Troy was waiting.

"Nice speech." Troy jokingly said as he followed Julius out of the warehouse.

"Yeah and thanks for the support earlier. So now that the Carnales are taken care of, what's our next move on the Vice Kings goin' to be?" Julius redundantly asked as he stared out over the water.

"Well… Johnny's still a couple days away from being able to walk again." Troy said before taking another drag. "Dex has a few ideas on how to get to the cops on the Kings' payroll."

"What do you think we should do?"

"You know the answer to that, I've said from the beginning that all we need to do is take King out, it's him and him alone who keeps that crew together."

"We are not killing King." Troy just blankly stared back at the threatening tone Julius had.

"Like I said, you knew what I was goin' to say."

* * *

Heller threw his bag on the cot that would be serving as his bed for the rest of the mission. The current base of operations, an old hanger in the Stilwater airport, was being provided by their friends in the Syndicate. It was small but ignored so it would work.

Heller began going over his effects, classic M15 with extended clip and one of the newer recoil-dampening stocks, a few bundles of cash, clothes both civvie and his Watcher uniform, a couple burner phones, and his mom's locket with his wife and daughter's pictures. Most important was a small cylinder with a black and blue eye on the side, the last ditch plan that every officer of the Blue Line was given.

"I don't think it will come to that." A slightly stern but reassuring voice said from behind him. Heller turned to see a woman with short blond hair in her normal black and trimmed blue uniform. The officer cap always covered her forehead and slightly shadowed her gray eyes.

"Captain Blade, I know, but regs say we carry it just in case." Heller said to his second-in-command. She was the only other normal human in their squad, everyone else was one of the Unique Assets among the Watchers of the Blue Line. He had been with this unit for a while and he still didn't understand what that meant. What was the Blue Line? The Protos? They couldn't be it. Heller had spent enough thought on this issue to know that they weren't what they were supposed to be watching.

Heller put everything back into his bag and turned to his Second. "How are the Protos doing?"

"Kenshi is quiet like normal, Mileena is currently under control through is requesting to go out on recon duty." Blade followed her superior as he started walking to their squad's section of the hanger.

"Denied, she's still adjusting to life without her sister and she's not the most stable to begin with." Heller said with a headache starting to form at the memory at their last mission to kill off Mileena's sister. It hadn't been his first choice of options but one was on their side and the other was not, and at the end of the day sometimes that's what makes the choice for you.

"Yes sir, Ermac is… he's doing his thing again sir."

"Leave him be." Ermac was the other Proto that he really did not want to think about. He wasn't like Mileena in that he was sure that she would kill everyone in the squad if a better offer came but Ermac was just… he was still very much an unknown. Heller had yet to understand his motives beyond simple survival.

"Very well sir. Cyrax is working on the local networks and is currently trying to bring the local BlackNet up to speed."

"And Nightwolf?"

"He is currently studying the ambient psychic energy in the city, last I heard is that there's an omega-level dead spot."

"You say that like it's a normal everyday thing." Heller stops at this news.

"There's no need to worry, Nightwolf might think there's one here but our superiors haven't found any tangible proof of its existence. Even the Director confirmed this."

"Then why would Nightwolf say there's one?" Heller liked the sound of this even less. His own dedicated detector Proto felt something that powerful and command was playing the shut up card, which meant something was very wrong. "Has Ermac said anything?"

"He says that Nightwolf is mistaking a natural spike for the real thing." Heller thought this over, on one hand he trusted Nightwolf far more than both Ermac and Command, but he wasn't sure if that meant both at the same time. And Ermac was always right on these things while Nightwolf would every now and then mistake something small for something radically important.

"Fine, I'm going with command for now, how's our boss doing?" Heller said with a slight grimace. His SO was a good man, but his devotion to imposing order at any cost caused him to clash with some of the younger and more eccentric members of the team. Still, his experience and connections among the mundane armed forces made him a formidable officer no matter who he was directing.

"The Lieutenant Commander is currently taking a walk through the city. His sub-lieutenant went with him sir."

"Well that's good to hear, at least _she'll_ keep him from causing too much trouble." Heller sighed as he approached the door to the main hangar bay. His room was a repurposed office while his team stayed in the hanger. He opened the door and looked over his motley crew. He saw Kenshi sitting cross-legged on the nose of the only plane in the hanger sharpening his sword. The newest member to the team, the seventeen-year-old Cyrax was surrounded by salvaged screens and broken computer parts. Heller sighed again, they hadn't even been here two days and the kid was already making his nest. Ermac was the hardest to spot, he was sitting on the tail of the plane doing… something. Heller wasn't quite sure what he was doing. It looked like a form of meditation but the position he was in looked very uncomfortable. Heller saw Mileena stretched out on a large couch that wasn't there before.

"Mileena..." Heller said as he walked over to the woman. "Mind telling me where you got this couch?"

"She stole it!" Cyrax yelled from his nest before taking a long drink from his large soda. Mileena just rolled her eyes and went back to relaxing. Heller just rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"It was just laying out there, anyone could have taken it." Mileena said in her halfhearted defense.

"When a thief is seen stealing, he says he is joking; but when the thief is not seen, he steals." Kenshi murmured, not moving his attention from his sword.

"Dude, I thought you were Japanese, that's a German proverb." Cyrax laughed as he continued to hack into the CIA, the local police database, check his EBay bid… _"Whoo! Sniped another cookie jar!"_ … and finish his eighty-eighth Minesweeper round.

"I am a student of many wisdoms." Kenshi said as he checked the edge of his blade.

"Enough! Listen, we all need to keep a low profile around here, our mission is to watch Zeus, a Viral that is currently the most dangerous threat facing humanity. The Director has ordered us to watch Zeus and report back to him."

"Why though…" Cyrax said as he swiveled around to face Heller. "… why not kill him, why just watch?"

"It is because the creature is too strong for any of us." Ermac said as he appeared behind Heller, shocking him in the process. Heller took a deep breath; he had never been able to get used to Ermac's habits. "Even all of together would be nothing to him, we are bugs to this beast, passing curiosities to be stepped on and forgotten."

"He's that strong?" Mileena said getting up, Heller gave her another glare. He knew what she was thinking and wasn't about to have any of it. Kenshi read Heller's look and was soon behind the woman with his blade under her neck. Her eyes turned back to the blind swordsman.

"He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life."

"He's moved on to the quotes." Cyrax said, smiling at the new development.

"I think we've made our point, stand down Kenshi." Heller ordered, his hands across his chest. Kenshi pulled his sword back and quickly placed it back in its sheath. "Now, we have our mission and we will do it to the letter, no more no less. Now it seems that Nightwolf has taken the first recon duty. So everyone get some sack time."

* * *

Alex looked out onto Stilwater from his new Villa balcony. It was perfect. They still had to hose down the room where the previous residents had their fun, but he was thinking of just taking a flamethrower to it. It would be fun, therapeutic, and be a lot more effective.

At that moment he felt Luz's arms wrap around his arm. He looked down to the eager face of the first true member of his Viral Family, realizing that while she was certainly fun, it wasn't really enough. He needed more. The Pinklight virus was good for conversion but he now needed something a bit more… like him. Something to give to those that he felt he could trust with the power. This strain would be based off his own and not one from Ragland's Fountain of Strains. He certainly would look through those that Ragland had found, he needed to evolve and grow stronger.

"Is something wrong love?"

"Oh it's nothing, just thinking about…" Alex stopped when he felt something. It wasn't in the Hive Mind. It felt deeper than that. Something had just tried to reach out to him through some other way. "Did you just feel something?"

"No." Luz looked up at her love with worry, he was acting different and she didn't want that. He had been perfect the last few days, more perfect than before even and she didn't want it to stop.

Alex looked to the airport, that's where he felt it coming from. But then it moved to the city, then to the Row, and again somewhere else. It hopped from place to place, never really stopping until it landed in the great lake that surrounded Stilwater.

"Odd… it's gone now. Whatever. If it comes back I'll just find it again."

* * *

"Why the _hell_ are we in the sewers?" Carlos asked as tried avoiding falling down into the river of shit below. He was following Dana and behind him was a few other Saints that she had roped in with the promise of money and a bit of using her brother's name to scare some of them.

"Because I finally found the network hub that I had been looking for. And I need you guys to make sure that if I set off any alarms I have some back up." Many of the Saints shot back a "why me?" look at hearing this.

"And _why_ were you looking for this thing?" Carlos asked trying to keep his mind off the smell.

"The network is owned by the guys that are hunting me and Alex, if I get in then I know how close they are."

"Oh, that kinda makes sense." The group move through the small tunnels and sewers until they reached an old chain fence. With a quick use of bolt cutters, they continued on. Just before they turned another corner Dana stopped them and pulled out a laptop, but it wasn't the one Carlos normally saw her use. This one looked brand new, clean as opposed to the sticker-covered one she before. After watching her do a few things on it he saw her break it over her knee and throw it down into the sewage.

"Okay the cameras up ahead should be on a loop for the next hour so we have until then to get in and get out." Dana continued on while the rest of the Saints just looked shocked before composing themselves and following her.

* * *

King was finishing up the last of the pape work for the reconstruction of the record studio. He rubbed the bridge of his nose after signing the last of the contracts. He couldn't shake the maddening thought that this might all be in vain. He thought back to what his boys told him this morning, that the Saints had gotten the Los Carnales to drop their flags and join up with them. The Saints had killed Hector and Angelo and had also managed to bring their enforcer, Victor, into their fold. King was wondering if he should call for some kind of talk with Julius since, at the rate the Saints were going, it was going to be impossible to beat them back down let alone wipe them out. Even _if_ they weren't in the picture, he still had the Rollerz to deal with.

"Maybe I should just join Julius. If I had to this would be the best time. I still have somethings to bargain with. It would be better than war. The problem is convincing the boys, but that might be easier than Warren. The boys are worried, and if I start talking about joining the Saints they'll look to Warren. If I get him on with me then I'm sure some will fight back but most will follow. It all comes down to Warren… that's gonna be tricky." King looked up from his thoughts at the sound of the doors to the board room opening. To his surprise, Warren walked in with Tanya on his arm, but she looked different. Her clothes were darker than the normal stuff she strutted around in and she wasn't wearing shoes, King had always thought that ridiculously expensive footwear was one of her hobbies. "Warren, what are you doing here?."

"Things need to change King." King narrowed his eyes at Warren's tone. Something was wrong. He thought that the two of them had come to an understanding, but it was like he was talking to the old Warren, a mouthpiece for Tanya. "The Saints are gettin' stronger and you're just sitting here doin' nothing!"

"Calm down Warren, I told you. Once we get the studio… " He paused, his posture hardening as he became honest with himself.

"Look… I can't lie now. Truth is, Warren, I'm thinking about…"

"Hold that thought." Tanya interrupted King. "King, baby…" Tanya crooned as she sat on the board table. "Me and Warren have been talking, and we think that you should take an early retirement. Let us handle the Saints." King's street instincts were screaming at him to get far away from her. This was only confirmed when a few of his boys came into the room fully armed.

"That kinda retirement I take it?"

"Yeah." Tanya answered with the most evil smile King had seen in his life.

"I think you kids are forgetting one fact." He said as he stood up. "I am **Benjamin Motherfucking King**!" King yelled as he hurled the table on its side sending Tanya to the ground in surprise. Even more surprising was the fact his former boys quickly disregarded King and ran to help the fallen woman, thus allowing him to escape through the boardroom doors. King pressed the button for the 2nd floor on the elevator before running to the stairs hopping to fool Warren and Tanya. His plan worked until he reached the third floor when he heard people coming down and up. "Been awhile since I got my hands dirty" the Kingdom Come Records CEO muttered as he cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck.

King ducked under a baseball bat and with one punch to the jaw knocked out the foolish Vice King that attacked him. He shoved the body down the stairs knocking down three more thugs. Their ex-boss ran down past them and quickly reached the first floor. He peered behind the corner to see the whole lobby crawling with his former men. King moved back and was able to make an escape through the window of the building's staff room.

"Hey, yo! He's over here!"

King cursed as he was spotted in the parking lot. Fortunately, he was able to make it to his car after smashing another traitor into the window of another truck. King started his truck and peeled out of the building. Several of the Vice Kings tried running out in front of him, but King just drove on through. Internally, he was surprised at the reckless abandon that his men seemed to have gained overnight. Despite running a street gang and not an army, he'd always tried to instill _some_ tactical smarts in his men. King drove out with several yellow cars following him. He pulled out his cell and prayed that his old ally would answer.

"What do you want playa?" _Yes, thank whoever was listening._

"Julius, I think I might be in a bit of trouble."

* * *

Lieutenant Commander Cyrus Temple was enjoying his walk along the edge of the University district. Stilwater was an open wound on human society, a lawless den of crime and corruption, but it wasn't so bad on the outskirts near the water. Cyrus looked out, thinking back on the events that had brought him here, acting as a military liaison and director of a group of adolescent super-misfits. 15 years ago, he'd been an ordinary Petty Officer fresh out of the Cold War on his way up the ranks to a cushy command job, until an incident with a cross-dimensional rip in the Bermuda Triangle left him the only survivor of his ship's entire crew. The resulting coverup by the Illuminati had opened his eyes and shown him that the world was bigger than he could have ever imagined. His combination of experience and newfound exposure to what went bump in the night had boosted him through the ranks, all right. Still, the cost was that he had to go to backwaters like this while dealing with these unruly and childish-

"Sir." His junior officer said from behind him, shocking him out of his thoughts.

"What is it, ensign?"

"I just got a message from Heller sir, he says to be on the lookout for anything that might seem like it's hiding its power level." Ensign Kia Johnson answered back, still displaying a blank face of professionalism.

"Why, did one of his… operatives, feel something?"

"Nightwolf raised an alert about an Omega-level dead spot, but Ermac says that was just a natural spike." Cyrus thought about this, they were currently hunting down Zeus, whose own Proto status has been called into question by their intelligence contacts. Humans that held the title of dead spot tend to adapt to the Blacklight virus better than most. Greene was a dead spot, a conclusion the eggheads came to though their own testing, independent of Blackwatch. If Zeus was a dead spot, then it would make sense why he took to the virus so well.

"Let Heller handle it." He said, wanting to limit his interaction with the more youthful and eccentric members of the team.

* * *

Alex was relaxing by his brand new pool. He was thinking about filling in with something fun. Something edible, like popcorn, or Jell-O, or maybe he would go on the internet and find something he could shape, get creative with. Alex's body could handle being in water so long as he kept over two thirds out of it or had plenty of biomass saved up.

The problem Viral beings had with water… well, ones that were entirely Blacklight... Luz was fine because the strain was inside her and not her whole body…. wholly viral beings couldn't get submerged because the cellular membranes of the infected cells were weaker to allow more rapid change and movement. This meant that the cells would start to dissolve when submerged in water. Other liquids didn't seem to have the same effect though. Whole Viral beings needed to keep supplying cells to replace the ones lost. This could be done effectively as long as the body was only under a third submerged. Any more and the body wouldn't be able to replace enough cells fast enough. Alex had theorized that he could potentially use large amounts of biomass to help, but he wasn't about to test it out on himself.

Alex took another sip of the wine that he'd found in the cellar, he personally hadn't had much of an interest in wine but had the memories of several connoisseurs. The wine was good, he didn't care to know the history or even the name or vintage of whatever he was drinking, it was good.

He looked over to his sister lying next to him.

"You still stink." Alex said as bluntly as he could.

"Argh! Damn it Alex!" Dana said as she sat up. "I spent _two hours_ in the bathroom trying to get this smell off. All I want is to sit out in the sun before it goes down."

"Did you at least find the network?"

"Yeah, but something happened and as I was working on it the whole thing did a data purge."

"You don't sound like you believe it was something that was setup to prevent you from doing exactly what you were doing."

"No… I think someone was in the system with me. But whatever, the lead' dead and I'm not spending any more time down in that shithole to bring it back." Dana said as she laid back.

"You still stink." Before Dana could react again to her brother's jab his phone began ringing Julius' set ringtone. "That's the boss." Alex picked the phone up and answered it, he nodded a bit and then yelled then agreed with whatever Julius wanted him to do. Alex hung up and changed his body back to his normal Saints attire. "Got to save King, seems like we'll be wrapping the Vice Kings up along with the Carnales this week."

"Good luck, and can you pick up some real food while you're out, I'm getting sick of takeout." Alex waved off Dana's request and began walking to the garage before being stopped by Luz. Dana watched as Alex explained what he was going to do and then Luz's pouting at not being able to go with him. Dana smirked at Luz giving Alex her own crazy version of puppy dog eyes and even laughed a bit when he struggled to resist it. But in the end his own overprotective nature had won out and left without Luz. Dana frowned as Luz spotted her and quickly came over to her. Luz began to complain to Dana, much to Dana's discomfort. But she had to give her brother some form of sickened credit, he had this woman wrapped around his finger pretty tight. Most of Luz's complaints were more toward herself than Alex. Dana sighed and once again sat up to look at the slightly crying woman at eye level.

"Listen, my brother has always been overprotective. The only time he'll ever let you come with him on his murder missions is when he's sure that you won't be hurt."

"But he will take me, right?" A slightly whimpered voice came from Luz, this shocked Dana but only minutely. Alex had told her what had happened, that he basically Harley Quinn-ed her. but she was still a little disturbed by it.

"Yeah… sure." Dana looked away for a moment to compose herself. "I'm sure once he starts to feel that you'll be safe he'll take you with him all the time. He just doesn't want to lose anyone." Dana knew that to be at the very least true. Alex hated losing people, it most likely stemmed from losing his own parents, he never knew them and Dana knew that he did in fact love their father but she also knew that it ate at him that his true parents abandoned him.

"Thank you." Luz said snapping Dana back to the world.

"Oh don't worry about it."

* * *

Alex was driving down to the last place King was spotted. His enhanced ears soon picked up on the sound of gunfire as his hands swerved the wheel towards the noise. He gunned the gas and drove straight through the fence at the park where the firefight was taking place, only stopping when his vehicle crashed into a statue standing in the middle. _Not my car, don't give a shit._ Alex punched the door off, sending it flying in the air, and climbed out to the staring of King who was huddled behind a concrete wall. The Vice Kings hardly reacted at all, _that_ made Alex a bit more interested.

After he dropped down from the wreck he dusted himself off and walked over to King.

"So you're King huh… you look exactly like how I pictured you."

"How the motherfuckin' hell are you still standing, boy?"

"That's not important right now, what is… is why aren't they slack jawed like you." Alex said as he focused on the incoming Vice Kings. Alex switched to his viral senses on a hunch and found what he was looking for, they were all infected with a highly advanced strain of Pinklight. Alex's thoughts began moving faster than normal humans as he went over the facts before him, dropping out of his thoughts and looked at King. "Tanya's last name, what is it?"

"Winters I think… why?" King said as he watched a smile grow on the Saint's face. King watched as he cracked his neck and started walking to the Vice Kings and his eyes widened at the sight that played out in front of him.

"Hello boys!" Alex yelled at the Vice Kings. The infected gangbangers stopped at the sight of Alex, they all took a step back. They could feel him, he was an Alpha, someone who brought fear and submission to any around him. Alex smiled, he could smell the sweat starting to form, hear a few of them start to grind their teeth, see the fear in their eyes. They knew their place, but then a shot rang out. Alex looked to his shoulder to see the already healing wound, then to the top of the stairs behind the Vice Kings and saw the Beta. He was wearing a bright yellow suit, definitely fit the description Gat gave him of Warren. Alex watched as the infected gangbangers got their courage back at the sight of their Beta, a living symbol of their own Alpha. Alex sighed, he had hoped to scare these newborns into submission but it would seem that plan was out of the question. "Hey King, they're going to start shooting again!" Alex yelled back she turned to see King still shocked but behind him were five Vice Kings about to open fire on him. Alex's mind raced, he didn't have any gun on him, that left looting one. He couldn't block all of the bullets, the shooters were too spread out but they were on the same level. Alex had an idea but it meant exposing himself to King. He weighed his options but decided to just either hold King to a life debt or, if that wouldn't work, scare the living shit out of him which would most likely happen anyways. Alex's arm shaped into his only long range form, his Whipfist. In a split-second, Alex's extended viral arm swung across the park and decapitated the five gunners.

King looked on in horror as the heads of the men that would have killed him dropped to the ground and then to the strange black and red extension as it flowed back to the Saint. Moving into survival-mode, he returned back to the fight as more shots hit the wall he was hiding behind. He fired back a few times but watched as the Saint walked over to the dead bodies and grabbed one of the rifles. The Saint composed himself like a soldier and ran past King, Short bursts of gunfire erupted past the wall and when King looked past the edge he saw the Saint running up toward Warren. King was sure that Warren was dead, just as sure as he was glad that he had decided to call it quits. If Julius had unleashed this man on him then he would have been dead in hours. But then the Saints knocked Warren down with the stock of the rifle and waved for King to join him.

"Where's your Alpha?" Alex asked as he flicked Warren's head back.

" _I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her_ …" Warren mumbled wide-eyed, repeating the words like a mantra even as Alex looked him over.

"You're too far gone…" Alex looked back as he heard King walk up to them. "Sorry King, but this kid is basically brain dead." Alex said as he stood back up and watched the horrified face of King look over his former protégé.

"What the hell happened to him… for that matter, what the fuck are you?"

"I'm human, just a bit…. more. You know what happened in New York?"

"Some kind of outbreak, zombies and other nasty shit."

"Yeah, to make a long story short, what got out can change people, and Tanya got changed. She can infect others and force them to do her will by controlling their emotions."

"She can fucking control their minds?"

"No… not exactly, but she can control the bodies enough that you can't tell the difference. The less you know the better, all you need to know now is that I'm responsible for all of this and I'm going to fix it." King looked at Alex, he was thinking over what had been said and what got left out. He knew that this was some freaky bullshit that he didn't need to deal with.

"Fine… what about him?" King nodded to Warren who was still repeating the same thing over and over again.

"I don't know… you can take him with you and he might get better once I deal with Tanya, but I'm not sure."

"And just how are you going to deal with her?" The smile that came over Alex's face terrified him to his core. "You know what, forget I asked. If you want to know where the girl is…"

"No need, I can feel her." Alex said as he turned toward the Vice Kings' penthouse.

* * *

Author's notes.

So how did everyone like the Mortal Kombat team. I changed Cyrax because I need a bit of youthful comic relief to the team.. We're going to be moving to the fight between Tanya and Alex next chapter, and after that will be the Rollerz and it will be vastly different to the canon because well… the saints are big enough to really be able to take on the Rollerz. There'll be stuff with Lin but very different and Ragland is going to be popping around. I've got so much planned and we're only on the first game.

 **Important! Currently I am replacing Roy Mustang from FMA to Cyrus Temple from SR3. So if you see the former know it will turn into the latter soon enough**


	14. Fight Night!

" _A car… she threw a car at me?_ " Alex thought as he watched the incoming blue convertible plummet towards him. Without flinching, simply just stood in the middle of the street as the car crashed into his body, splitting into two with each piece continuing its journey down the street. Alex gave a slight turn back as the heavier variant of his viral armor that he currently was using didn't allow for his head to turn. He turned back to his opponent who was preparing another car to be thrown, this one a truck.

Alex mentally sighed, the fight with Tanya had been fun at first, but he was quickly disappointed when it became apparent that her strain was geared toward situations outside combat while Alex's… well, his current situation spoke for itself. He was left more or less waiting her out until she tired and he could drag her away and claim her strain for his own. He was still debating whether or not to let her live through the ordeal.

His mind returned to the fight when he noticed that the truck had not hit him but instead served as a distraction so his attacker could get close enough to try to run him right through with her own claws. His head could look up and down, so he peered downward at the smaller viral being.

"This is getting tedious… I really had expected… well, maybe not." Alex said conversationally, grabbing the woman by the shoulder and pulling her up to his height. "You don't seem to understand how it is we fight, Virals I mean. The goal of a fight between us is to get the other to use up their biomass leaving them vulnerable. As long as we have enough biomass we can regenerate any wounds. I'm telling you this because it is insulting to _me_ on some level I don't really understand that _you_ don't get this." Alex grabbed Tanya's head and began crashing it. "Feel that, it should kill a normal person but you and me aren't normal people." The hellish screeching coming from the viral being echoed through the city as Alex finished off the head, dropping the woman and watched as her skull reformed in very much the same way Alex's head did at the start of the fight.

* * *

 ** _One hour earlier._**

Tanya sat in King's chair, quite satisfied with how her takeover was going. Pretty soon she would have this whole city under her thumb, all its males serving her every whim with no meddling gangbangers or creepy masked men to ruin things.

She began pouring a glass of liquor when she felt something in her head, a tightening feeling that demanded her attention. She still hadn't figured out the inner workings of the Hive Mind, just enough to control her toys. She could feel the ones that she sent after King suddenly stop. She felt her grip on them loosen. It stopped when Warren got there, but it worried her that it happened anyways. Then, one by one, they died leaving Warren alone. Something was wrapping itself around Warren, choking the light around him and dragging him away from her! Something snapped within her and she quickly cut Warren off entirely. This seemed to do the trick, and while he was lost to her forever the other _thing_ didn't get any closer to her.

Tanya leaned back, this whole event rattled her even more. As if she wasn't stressed enough already, her phone rang. She had an idea who it was.

"Hello, Miss Winters." Tanya's skin crawled at the sound of the modified voice. Tanya knew he was toying with her, why else would he make it sound like that horrible doll from the Saw movies? "It would seem that my investment in you is about to come to the next step. I personally don't see you surviving this phase. You have wasted my gift, but then again I never expected any sort of real ambition from you anyways. You were simply a test, and I already have what I needed. A word of advice before we finish up, I recommended that you retire yourself now, simply expel all biomass you have and pick your method." Suddenly, a street lamp speared through the window behind Tanya and embedded itself in the wall with a crash. The angle at which the metal pole landed blocked off the rest of the penthouse. "Ah… it would seem that we are at an end Miss Winters. I say my final goodbyes and farewells." At that the man on the other side hung up. Tanya stared at the phone in anger only to turn back at the sound on glass crunching under heavy boots.

"You… You're that Saint from the old police station?" Tanya reacted in shock at the sight of the Saint that escaped when Johnny Gat failed at his attack on the Vice King stronghold.

"Guilty as charged… you have no idea how much I wanted to gut the two of you that day, but I was keeping a low profile and wasn't ready to tell the Saints about… well, I'm still not." The Saint said as he walked past Tanya to one of the swivel chairs in the office. The Saint grabbed the chair, sat down backwards and stared at Tanya.

"Like what you see?" Tanya joked, she could feel her tendrils craw the floor to the Saint. She just needed to buy time and he would be hers.

"Not really. I expected more." The Saint frowned and Tanya did as well. She was not used to guys turning her down. The Saint kicked his way to the cabinet that held several guns in it. Tanya pulled out the one she had been hiding under the desk but the Saint kept going. He called her bluff and opened it and before he pulled something out she opened fire on him and to her horror he didn't even notice the bullets running through him. He pulled out a shotgun and kicked his way back to the desk. To her increasing terror, the moment he was in range of her tendrils, those same tendrils recoiled from the man. She tired pushing them to the Saint, but they wouldn't obey her commands. "Here." The Saint put the gun on the desk with a loud thud. "Prove to me that your even worth the time to fight." Tanya grabbed the shotgun and blasted the Saint, turning his head into a mist of blood and bone bits. She once again watched in horror as his skull grew back, layers of bone forming on top of each other to be wrapped with strings of muscle. The eyes formed next and then the skin, the Saint taking a deep breath as his black hair grew back though this time it needed to be combed back like before. "That's not what I meant… I wanted you to do that to yourself." Tanya couldn't understand what he just said, shot her own head off?

"Why the fuck would I do that?"

"The fact you asked that means you're not worth a real fight, no, what's going to happen will be nothing but me proving just how vast the difference is between you and me. But I will answer your question before you will answer one of mine. You were supposed to shoot yourself because you would have told me that you understood that it would not have hurt you and that would mean you understood what you are." The Saint sighed again, it was clear to Tanya that he didn't respect her or even give her more than the bare minimum of thought. "I'm not even going to tell you what you are, it would be a waste of time and energy. So we are going to move on to my question… well it's more like multiple choice." The Saint wheeled himself around the desk and to one of the window panes still intact. "Choice A. we fight and you either die or I turn you into my bitch. Choice B. you submit yourself to me willingly and I make you one of my… well I like the term consort. It's like being my bitch but I treat you like you actually matter. Choice C. I consume you here and now, they'll be nothing left… you'll be dead. Those are your options, die, submit, consumed." The Saint glanced back at Tanya, from his words she was expecting him to be leering at her in prospect of her submitting to him. But no, his face was that of complete disinterest.

"How about none of the above, baby?"

* * *

Alex sighed, what a cheesy answer. He watched as she charged at him, her body shifting into her viral form, the same one from their first night. He just let her charge at him and the two crashed into the window from the force of her charge. Alex was still sitting in the chair as they fell to the ground, both making two craters from their impacts.

Alex's arm burst out of the ruble and he pulled himself out, fully garbed in his viral armor. His hands shifted into his muscle mass form as he watched the banshee like viral being emerge from her own crater.

"You can end this all right now." Alex offered one last time. He knew the response as he did when he first offered the choices. This was a woman that clearly hated men, and the mere idea of what he was suggesting was the worst case outcome for her. The idea of serving him in any way went against her very being. Alex could respect her conviction but what caused his current indifference to her was he wastefulness in her power. She had used her power too lightly, she took it for granted and didn't even care to learn about it, he knew this in her reluctance to shoot herself, it was likely she had no idea it wouldn't hurt her.

She screamed at him, and charged in his direction, her claws ready to pierce and slash. Alex ducked under the first attack and with a quick jab to her right side sent her flying toward the parking lot. Alex was becoming more and more bored; she was no challenge. He didn't enjoy long dragged-out fights unless they were fun. He began walking toward her and he could feel that this wasn't going to be a battle at all. `

Alex looked down and saw several viral blades sticking out from the ground and skewering him. Before he could look back up he felt Tanya's uppercut that sent him into the air, causing the blades to slice and rip through his body as he was launched into the air. Still not taking this very seriously, Alex lazily glanced back down and saw Tanya right under him. He grunted as she once again ran him through with her claws and flung him back down into the viral blades she had trapped him in earlier.

Alex pushed himself of the blades. He wondered when she had set this thing up. Looking back on the last ten minutes he noted that in his disinterest he had given her plenty of time. Looking around he noticed that she had once again disappeared on him. His viral senses quickly picked her out, he turned toward the car he sensed her behind but when he got there found that she was absent. His viral senses were telling him one thing and his eyes something else. This was not a good sign, a thought only confirmed by the claws that once again pierced him from behind.

Alex didn't waste any time now, his hand whipped around slammed her into the pavement. Her body cracked under the force but she swiftly rolled out of the way of his fist that shattered the pavement even more.

Tanya rolled under one of the cars and kicked it off the ground towards Alex. She watched as the vehicle flew through the air only to be caught by the older Viral being. He quickly used it to bat her back into the Vice Kings building. Tanya shot through the air and crashed into the hard concrete building to land in the lobby. She fell to the ground and was soon attended to by her toys that were guarding the room. Her brain was on fire, demanding her to do something that she found sickening. But the more she bled out the more the idea become increasingly appealing. She sensed the Saint had walked into the lobby and ordered most of her toys to deal with it commanding a few to remain at her side. The moment one of them tried to help her up he was pulled into her body by invading tendrils. As her body consumed the biomass of the infected Vice King she felt intoxicated, better than the start of the fight. She grabbed another and consumed him as well, then greedily shoved her hand through another to get at the biomass faster.

Alex watched, sickened, as the younger viral being consumed her own hive members. Infected and even normal humans were one thing, but those were members of her hive, the closest thing to family that a viral could have. He watched as she finished off the fifth Vice King to be consumed and looked back at him triumphantly. Tanya erupted with a shriek as she ran at him again and, her claws meeting his blade. The two continued to trade blows, Alex would make a slash at her feet only for her to jump above and dig into his shoulder and neck. She tried to roll to his side to gain a hit to his torso only for him to fall down on her with his elbow, pinning her to the floor while his arm dug into her gut. The slug match only ended with Alex shifting back into his claws and performing his Devastator attack filling the room with blackened viral spikes and one of these was Tanya trying to get herself unstuck.

Alex's armor shifted back into him as he walked up to the now lone spike.

"Are you ready to submit now?" Alex asked knowing the answer. Tanya yelled something at him but he couldn't tell what it was as her viral form made her voice and speech into a series of squawks and screeches. The angry woman quickly chopped her own body in half, apparently her rage was overriding her fear and self-preservation instinct. Alex watched mildly as her upper torso quickly rebuilt her lower half then watched the other half drop to the ground and dissolve into a puddle of goo.

Thinking this was her chance, Tanya burst forward and stabbed the annoying Saint in the heart and head. To her lessening shock his eyes turned back to her and his mouth sighed once again. It was becoming really annoying.

"You truly don't get it." Alex held up his arm and began forming a working human heart in the palm of his hand, his third one currently, his first being stabbed and his new second taking over the job for the moment. "I can grow organs out of the built-up biomass in my body, aiming for vitals isn't how we fight." Alex kneed the woman in the gut and in the moment her claws fell out of his body grabbed her by the neck and threw her out of the building.

Tanya once again flew through the air, she stopped trying to count the times this was happening. Soon she hit the asphalt of the road, a few cars swerved to avoid hitting her and once the drivers saw her viral form began running away in a panic. The Saint landed with a boom in front of her, he looked a bit different, his viral armor looked… heavy? There was more of it, to the point that it had grown around his head preventing him from turning his head. He raised a hand and made the annoying _bring it on_ move.

Tanya thought fast and grabbed the first thing near her and threw it at the hated Saint.

* * *

Watching on the roof of a nearby high rise, James Heller and His second in command watched the fight play out.

"It threw a car… that viral just threw a car." Captain Blade said bluntly as she handed the binoculars over to her CO. "Real classic model too."

"Well that's a Viral for you." Heller said as he watched the fight. "I honestly think that Zeus is not taking this seriously, this whole fight it's been letting it make all the move and only reacting to them."

"I wouldn't go that far sir but yeah… Zeus certainly isn't fighting at its own level." Blade commented as she watched the fight without the help of the binoculars though they really weren't needed.

"This new element represents a substantial threat." Temple snarled from a little ways back with his own second standing behind him. "We were told that Zeus was unlikely to spread his strain around. His Modus Operandi could be changing."

"Considering that the other viral is clearly fighting him with all it has and he isn't means it is unlikely that it is one of Zeus'." Heller answered his commander. "There's a piece of this we don't have."

"Not that it will matter soon anyways." Blade said as she watched Zeus crush the other viral's head then start to drag the headless body back to the building that the fight started in. Each time the other viral's head would start to regrow Zeus would slice it off without breaking his stride.

* * *

Alex hurled Tanya into the same chair she was sitting in at the start of this. He strapped her down with his viral tissue, barbed to keep her perfectly still. He waited for Tanya to regrow and once she did waited for her to calm down and revert to her human form. The second she was back she felt his fingers on her forehead and before she could yell at him for touching her she felt it. Small tendrils entered her brain, and Alex's hand grew until his whole arm was connected to Tanya's head. The tendrils surged through her system, siphoning off all the infected cells in her body and replacing them with his own subservient strain. It took all of his focus and energy to make this a nonlethal possess, but it was by no means painless. He could see on what remained on her face that the pain was far beyond what normal humans were ever meant to feel. Alex felt a kernel of pity for the woman, she had gone from top of the world to… this. And it was only going to get worse for her. But her fate was no longer his concern, the moment she had consumed her own he had lost all mercy for her. He would never have mercy for such scum.

The process took a full two hours to complete and at the end Alex disconnected from the woman. She slumped down to the floor, drool coming down from her mouth. Alex looked down and felt her in the Hive mind along with all those she infected, and there were a _lot_. It was almost like anyone that passed by her was infected.

" _Wait… that might be how she infected people._ " Alex looked down to her feet and noticed that they were uncovered. Alex realized how she was able to infect people. The strain would create small tendrils from her feet and seek out anything biological and infect it. Yes, he most definitely would need to spend time on these new powers he had flowing through him. And another thing dawned on him. This was different than the time he just drank a strain from a vile. He actually felt like he gained something beyond immunity. It was like when he had consumed his first Hunter and gained his much-loved claws. Alex realized that he needed to have these new strains incubate in other organic life before he could gain anything from it.

Alex smiled as he threw Tanya over his shoulder. He had some work to do.

* * *

Ragland watched Alex drag his test subject to one of the few not destroyed cars and threw her in the back and quickly drove off. Ragland stepped down from the ledge of the parking building and began walking to his own car.

"It would seem my little experiment has come to a close." Ragland mumbled to himself as he opened the door to his car. He wasn't sure why he did this in the first place. All that happened was that a girl got the power of a god, she wasted it and was defeated by a true god. Now that same god would grow from this and become even stronger than ever before. Ragland couldn't help the smile on his face even as he tried to think of just how this all could possibly benefit him. He couldn't think of one thing. Alex gained everything by this and he had nothing but the knowledge that his hybrid strains worked. But he didn't care. This all had been a truly joy filled experience for him, he found himself looking forward to each stage of his experiment and savored each one of his talks with the subject. "I must do this again."

* * *

Alex was currently sitting on the roof of his new villa, or to be more accurate he was sitting on Tanya's back while she played the part of a bench. Alex was examining the new lights in the Hive Mind, combing through the flickers and colors of each and every one. Then he focused on Tanya, causing her a burning headache from his focus. Alex opened his eyes to her groan.

" _That_ was for mismanagement of your Hive, the former Vice Kings were well-controlled. But everyone else is… they wander and don't know where to look. It angers me to my core to see them such a state… but it makes it easy to rein them in." Alex said before returning to the Hive Mind. What he said was true, after making his presence known the now former Vice Kings put up a small fight but stopped once they felt their Tanya under Alex's thumb. They now knew who was the true Alpha, the one and only Alpha. The others Tanya had careless infected had to be searched for and brought within the fold but they welcomed the guiding light that was Alex within the Hive Mind. He momentarily returned back to the real world when he heard some walk up to him, the sound of the terracotta was quite loud. "I know you miss me but I need to do this." Alex said as Luz came up behind him. A scowl on her face directed at Tanya.

"It's not like I'm enjoying this!" Tanya complained when she noticed Luz's disposition toward her. " _Bet you'd enjoy this though._ "

"You be quiet." Alex joked sternly. "Meditation benches don't backtalk." Alex smiled at the glare he got from Tanya and the quiet laugh from Luz. "Luz… I want you to go back down and tell Dana that someone was watching my collection of Tanya, I want to know who they were."

" _Si_ , my love." She quickly leaned down to kiss his cheek before walking back to the balcony.

"You two make me want to gag." Alex ignored his bench and returned to his work. The Pinklight-Blacklight hybrid strain certainly had promise. It was able to do exactly what he wanted, minus controlling people through sexual stimuli. It infected people around him with an inert Pinklight strain that would wrap around the spine, interweave through the muscle as it spread through the nervous system, and connect to the brain. This linked them to the Hive Mind and thus placed them under his control so long as he stayed on top of the food chain. These people would follow his commands to the letter and would likely kill themselves if he told them to, which he would never do.

" _This will be a great tool, the problem with this strain is that I need to get close and once the people are infected… they seem to lose something. I've started to notice as I look through the strays, they started losing their personality, its slow… be its there. Over time the people become dull and… the best word I can think of is generic. I suspect that this is because they weren't properly taken care of…_ " Alex stabbed Tanya's hand but she didn't falter, she knew that it would only get worse if she did. "… _but I think it might still happen just not to the same degree. I need to control this strain; I **don't** want to infect Dana or any of the Saints._" Alex looked out onto the rising sun with a steely gaze, he had a lot of work.

* * *

Julius was honestly baffled; he had used that word himself. First, King came to the church and refused to speak about what happened, only saying that the Vice Kings were done and he was retiring. Julius was internally happy that his friend was alive and leaving the gang life behind but was worried. Something happened with Alex, and King wasn't talking.

Then later that night a bunch of Vice Kings came to the church and dropped their flags and asked if they could join the Saints. No questions, no demands. Julius let them, he needed the man power to finish off the Rollerz and he had no other choice. One of them said something about Alex convincing them, but how he didn't say.

Julius hated that he was thinking these thoughts but he honestly couldn't help but connect the dots. Alex had done something; he had done something that night with Angelo, and now he had done something to King and Tanya. He himself couldn't do anything, The Saints loved the newcomer, the former Los Carnales were on his payroll, the former Vices Kings seemed to work for him in some way, and his own boys were at the same time scared shitless of him and saw him as one of them. Julius was also sure that it was Alex and to an extent his sister that were the reason for the Saints success. Alex had never acted against the Saints, so with that final thought Julius decided to let his concerns slide for now.

* * *

Dex walked quietly behind Alex's brothel. It had remained a mystery for the Saints. None of them had ever seen anyone but Alex or some strange black guy go in and sometimes they wouldn't come out but be seen later. Dex knew that if Alex had any dirty secrets it would be here.

And Dex had the perfect plan to get in. the building next door was some abandoned apartment building. Dex kicked the door down and after popping a few shots to get rid of the bums he made his way to a wall that bordered the brothel.

"Let's see what your hidin'…" Dex mumbled as he traced over the wall. He placed a homemade pipe bomb at the center and after setting off the fuse he ran to safety. He looked back after he could hear again. what he saw creeped him the fuck out. The drywall had been blown away but now there was a wall of black and red… stuff. It looked alive and every now and then it would move like a heartbeat. "Holy shit… what the fuck is that?!" Dex watched in horror as it slowly began to grow out into the room. "Oh fuck no! I'm outta here!" He began moving to the exit as he noticed the fleshy mass had started creeping towards him.

* * *

The Director watched the video his team had sent him of the fight. Alex Mercer's brawl with the girl on the surface looked to be impressive but it was normal to this man. He had been alive far too long to see this as surprising.

"Right there… his defense could use work… even if he's not even trying he should still do better." The Director leaned back in his chair. He swiped the video over to the other file he was looking into. Normally he let his trusted adviser and oldest friend handle the personnel, but this James Heller had caught his eye. He tapped on the introductory interview Heller had. The man was sitting in a blue and white room with a redwood table, just sitting back waiting for someone. The Director watched as that someone entered the room and sat across from Heller, it was his second in command. He always handled the new additions.

"Welcome Mr. Heller. Can I get you some refreshments, maybe a strong drink?" Heller just glared back. "All business, good. You have accepted a posting within our organization. This meeting is to tell you about said organization. In short, we are the Illuminati."

"What… like that secret society that rules the world, you're saying that's you?"

"Well, I wouldn't say we rule the world. We have contacts within the governments of the world but they are simply there to ensure that our job goes unimpeded. We haven't dictated the laws of man for quite some time." Heller eased up at this information. "I won't go into our history or anything like that, all I'm here to do is tell you how we work and what we do. The Illuminati is made of three Lines. The Red, Blue and Black. The Red line is the fight against disease. To protect humanity from biological attack. Currently this job is handled by the UN Black Ops unit called Blackwatch. You will not have to deal with them." The Director slightly laughed at that current events made that statement quite false. "The Black Line is the fight against that what lies beyond the stars."

"Aliens?" Heller scoffed.

"The Illuminati's goal is the protection of humanity and we **will** protect humanity from **all** threats, from **all** sides." The conviction of that statement shut Heller up quick as lightning. "The Black Line is currently handled by groups like NASA, we must get to the stars to fight the dangers that live among them. That brings us to the Blue Line. This is maintained by the Illuminati directly. And we stand vigil over the protection of the human mind. That in its modern state is to look for, collect, and deploy the Proto-Novus. They are various mutations of the human mind, they all hold powers that one might call psychic, although they vary. This is where you come in. We need men and women like you to take command of said Proto-Novi." The Director swiped back to video of Alex Mercer. He already knew the rest of the story of James Heller. The most powerful man on the planet reviewed the way Alex fought and groaned.

"He left himself completely open with that move… I thought I taught that boy better."


	15. Daddy's Back

"Sooooo… mind telling me why you have Dex strapped to the table?" Alex said as he looked over the sight in front of him. He had been called by Ragland to his warehouse to talk about a breach in their brothel used for human testing, but when Alex got there he was surprised to see Dex knocked out and on one of Ragland's operating tables.

"He is the one that was poking around, I believe he saw a few things he shouldn't have." Ragland answered. This was an annoyance to him, this man held no interest, he was Alex's ally and as such would be less likely to fight him and give Ragland the data he wanted.

"Oh… well then, what should we do with him?"

"He's your ally, I have no personal stake in this." Ragland said as he walked away to check the progress of a centrifuge. "By the way… I heard about you subduing the other viral being. Did anything come of it?"

"Yeah… I got myself a fucktoy and can control humans I infect. The added genes make Blacklight more volatile, so now I have to focus on not infecting everyone I meet, but I'm working on it." Alex then began explaining how his new powers worked and it surprised Ragland. In what seemed like a direct opposite of Tanya, Alex's connection worked through the Hive Mind rather than direct contact. Control was subtle, but the subordination to an Alpha's will was no less absolute, and while it had the danger of someone else poaching control it had the added benefit of larger capability of the infected. Alex's infected retained their personality, independent reasoning, and abilities, traits which had a slight danger of eroding but Alex was certainly capable of fixing this to a degree that would be acceptable. In the end it seemed to be a perfected form of the first generation of Pinklight, Alex couldn't control people like a puppet master but he could cause them to willingly submit to their betters in the Hive Mind.

"I also figured out that I need to give the mutant strains to other people and consume them or take the strain for me to really evolve." Alex said as he continued to look over Dex's body.

"Do you think that it might be the hybridization of your strain and the mutant strain that caused this development? Maybe the other strains require yours to be compatible beyond immunity."

"Maybe… that sounds right. But we're not going to start making hybrid strains any time soon…" Alex could feel Ragland's change in mood, the doctor was disappointed. " _What's with him lately… he's always been very interested in Blacklight but I know he's smart enough not to go mad doctor on me. If nothing else he should know that it wouldn't end well for him._ " Alex looked back at his doctor ally. "How are you settling in by the way?"

"It is going well enough…" Ragland answered as he look at one of his tools in the light of his overhead. "… Mr. Sharp has been a good fit for me. But his nephew has been getting nervous, and it hasn't helped you Saints have started breathing down the Rollerz' necks."

"Willing to tell me any info on them?" Alex joked.

"Not really, I do not wish to betray the trust my patron has given me. I know you can respect that." Ragland said, completely unafraid.

"Wasn't expecting you to…" Alex turned back to his fellow Saint. "Dex has certainly been looking to be more of a problem. Maybe I should…" Alex trailed off as he stretched a talon over Dex's neck. "… but I need to lay low. Julius is already getting jumpy around me, between my handling of Luz and King's lack of explanation of just how I saved him and beat the VKs. The sudden loss of Dex when he was suspicious of me is too much."

"Well we can't just let him go." Ragland said as he brought over a few vials. "Perhaps the man could be bribed with power." Alex looked at Ragland blankly, his face unreadable as to his opinion. Then Alex looked down at the Strains, and picked up one of the lime colored stains. "Ah, that one I have decided to call Limelight, catchy, right? This one improves the senses beyond human limits. You already possess equal sensory power so consuming this one would be redundant. But what makes this one different is that it is completely invisible to other viral beings."

"I don't like that."

"But I highly doubt he would agree to…"

"Did I ever say he need to consent to this, I want Dex to shut up and if that means I can stare him down from inside his mind then so be it. But I can't do that if a I can't see him."

"Think of this as a bribe, we give him power and he leaves us alone." Alex looked back at Dex and grumbled before walking away. "Just make sure his paranoid ass leave _me_ alone!" He yelled before slamming the door behind him. Ragland let out a sigh and proceeded to pick up his shock baton to wake up the Saint. With a single *ZAP!* Dex awoke.

"What the fuck!? What… who the fuck strapped me…"

"Hush, Mr. Jackson" Ragland ordered as he pulled down a rag over Dex's mouth. "I'm here to give you something very special. But in return, you must cease in your investigation into Mr. Mercer." Ragland said as he flicked the syringe after drawing in the Limelight. "I can see by your eyes that your scared. Don't be. I won't bore you with the pathology, but suffice it to say that this is a superpower in a syringe. Once inside you, it will turn you into a Viral Being, granting you highly advanced senses. You will see things that you never thought possible. Understanding will come from your eyes, ears, nose." Ragland injected the Limelight into Dex. If this had been a hybrid then Ragland would need to do this with Alex as Dex would react the same as Tanya.

* * *

Dex woke up in the church, his head pounding like he had gone a round with Ben King. He was back in his normal clothes, and clutched in his hand was a beer bottle and an envelope. He rolled over limply and sat back against the pew while he put the beer bottle to his forehead. Inside the envelope was a message from that bastard that injected him with something. It was telling him that any business he had with Alex ended today and that he had already been given payment to stop. Dex crumpled up the letter and threw it across the church.

He stood up and started shuffling out of the building, but when two Saints walked through the door something happened. He suddenly knew everything about them. The gangster on the right had shot up heroin two days ago and was feeling for a fix again, the chick on the left hadn't showered in exactly three days, eight hours, and thirty-six minutes but she still tried to smell good by rubbing soap everywhere, she must have had her water turned off.

He passed them by and the same thing happened to everyone and everything on the street. He could hear the rattling in a passing car, he could smell the rounds in the guns concealed in the coats and pants of passing Saints, he could see where people's eyes went, mostly towards him. His brain started to ache from the knowledge flooding into it.

Was this supposed to be the payment? It didn't sound like a very good one, he knew _everything_ about people whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

Sitting across from Julius were Troy, Alex, and Victor. Dex couldn't be found, Julius had asked the three if they had seen him but they all said that they hadn't. Julius had paid attention to Alex and from what he saw it was almost like Alex was actually surprised. Like he had been expecting Dex to show up.

"All right playas, we're in the final stretch. The VKs have dropped their flags and the Los Carnales are all bought and paid for." Julius was expecting a reaction from Victor but saw none. "All we got left is the Rollerz, our crew's big enough to take them on in an open war."

"Really Julius… it seems kinda risky."

'Troy's right… what about Lin? Why hasn't she gotten to work yet?" Alex said leaning back in chair, he didn't mind if things got to a full gang war, it would at least make things easy for him to operate.

"Lin has reported back several times and from what she's told me, the Rollerz are getting nervous and are tightening ranks, I've been thinking of calling her back."

"I second that." Alex said as a hungry smile formed on his face.

"And we all know why." Troy said before taking another drag.

"Enough, this meeting is to discuss our war plans. Now…" Julius laid out a map of Stilwater. "Right now we control most of the southern island and half of the northern. The Rollerz took a bite out of the Vice King's in the confusion. So far… my plan's to force them back into the suburbs and starve 'em out, they can't survive on that only."

"It's a good plan but how to pull it off…..." Victor said as he looked over the map.

"Hit the soft points first…" Alex begun. "then you leave a token force to hold it and just as they are about to take what's theirs back we hit them where it's hurts them the most. They stick out a hand, we cut it off before striking the body."

"Good plan… we'll take the former VK territory and just leave a few boys there. But we need to get Lin in so we know when they take the bait, this needs to be timed exactly right or we'll lose a lot of guys." Julius said as he thought over the plan.

"And the target we we'll hit?"

"The stadium and everything around it, that's where they get their stolen car parts and where most of their auto shops are. We take that and they'll no doubt try to take it back." Julius answered Troy.

"And then we'll let them take it." They all turned to Victor. "We could trap all their chopshops and when they come back we'll put up a decent fight but retreat and let them walk right into our trap." They all looked at the huge man wide eyed.

"That's… umm… an idea." Troy said uneasy.

"It's good, we don't really need chopshops, we have our own here in the Row and down south. They're loss would put to big a dent in our revenue." Alex pointed out.

"I'm not sure… it would mean losin' some of our boys on purpose. We'll see about this idea when we get to that point but until then we take the stadium and we hunker down." The others nodded to their leader's choice.

* * *

Carlos took cover from the gunshots the Rollerz were laying down. He and a team of Saints were leading an attack on a warehouse that the Vice Kings used to store classic cars. It wasn't that hard to imagine that the Rollerz would retake it.

The Saint had already lost two of their own but they had taken five of the Rollerz. Carlos didn't mind, the first guy owed him money and the other was one of the former Vice Kings so screw 'em.

Carlos rolled over to behind another box just before the last one broke apart under a hail of bullets.

"C'mon! There's only three left!" Carlos yelled to the other Saints as he took a few more pot shots at the defending Rollerz.

* * *

"It pisses me off that everyone is havin' all the fun and I'm here stuck on my ass." Gat grumbled as Alex handed him a beer.

"Oh don't take it so hard man, you'll be back up and killing soon enough." Alex said as he sat next to Gat on the edge of his apartment building. "This is just the opening move."

"Yeah…" Gat mumbled before taking a sip. "… so what's going on with you man, haven't seen you in a few days. Luz keeping you tied up?" Gat joked.

"First off… _yes_ she has. Two… been busy dealing with the VKs and LCs. But they're history now thanks to yours truly." Alex said before drinking a whole bottle and then throwing it off the roof. The two laughed at the angry shouts.

"Man I wish that I could've joined ya."

"Eh… it wasn't the kind of fun time you would like. But this… I'm sure all kinds of trouble's coming our way." Alex said before once again throwing another bottle with the same result.

"You and Julius cookin' up a plan to take out the Rollerz?" Gat said as he popped off another beer top.

"You want to see something funny?" Alex said as he smiled and pulled out his phone. "I made that bitch Tanya in my own personal… let's use the word fucktoy because that's the most funny… and she… should… be… Now!" Alex chucked his bottle over the building across the one they were sitting on A moment later Alex's phone dinged. "Yup… I hit her."

"Are you sure it's safe to keep her around? I mean that is funny as fuck but… what if she tries that shit she did on Tony and Warren? I mean she got the tits to go after Troy, and Dex ain't that put together when there's a bottle in his hand." Gat watched as his drinking buddy's smile faded.

"Gat… how smart do you think I am?"

"Troy told me you went to college, and you were some big time doctor that made the kind of drugs that richies take." Alex laughed at that before returning to his more serious mood. He paused, then took a deep breath.

"Nah… I worked for Gentek. I was the guy who made that super virus that destroyed New York." There was a quiet on the roof, only the noise from below drifted up every now and then. Gat just looked across, not turning, not moving, just eyeing Alex before taking another sip of beer. "I'm also the one who released it and… I'm its patient zero." Gat continued to watch the man sitting next to him.

Despite what most people thought of him, Johnny Gat was not stupid. In fact the reason he flunked out of high school was more on the teacher's fault but then again Stilwater's schools were much like most of the city to begin with. But he still learned quite a bit and even learned more on his own after leaving school, it was true that he preferred having things fun than boring but he was still smarter than people gave him credit for. So when Alex told him about what he had done, he simply just waited, he didn't react, that's what punk-ass cowards and witless kids that don't learn fast did. You don't live long in the Row if you were either.

"If that's true… then why ain't you a zombie?" Gat finally answered back.

"99.999999 percent of people infected with a common strain of Blacklight mutate out of control and quickly die while the virus takes control over the body. that last 0.000001 percent of people gain control over it: super-strength, shapeshifting, better agility than the finest Olympic athletes, the whole package. I was just lucky to be that person."

"So… that's why you're so good. What's this gotta do with Tanya?" Gat asked calmly. This information could be worrying to most people, Julius, Troy, and even Dex would shit his pants and freak out but not him… Gat knew that if something bad was going to happen, it would have already happened. As far as Gat saw it this was good for the Saints. So he would let the details come in at a nice and easy pace.

"Blacklight has an internal Hive Mind, I'm at the head of it. Tanya is a part of it to, until that night the Vice Kings fell she had been like me, but I put the bitch down…" Alex growled out before taken a deep breath to compose himself again.

"So you can read her thoughts or something or… are you all one mind or something freaky like that?"

"No… the Hive Mind is more… it's hard to explain. Think of a sun, that's me, and a bunch of lights rotating around it, that's everyone that is under my control. But it's not like they're my robots, no it's more like they can feel me and can't help but feel a natural instinct to follow me."

"So, what's it like… not being human anymore?"

"I don't think I'm not human anymore." Alex said as he looked up at the night sky, his clawed hand raised above his face, Gat didn't even flinch. "I still feel the same…bad choice of words… I'm different, but better… in many ways but I still think of myself as human." Alex then smiled and turned back to Gat. "And who are you to question my humanity? I know that many people would call you 'monster' before ever calling you human." Alex said before taking a small vial of Blacklight from his pocket. This was something very special, this was a child strain from his own, the power level had been reduced but only by ten percent. Alex was sure of what he was doing, he had spent enough time to know that what he was doing was right. For a long time he had felt the need to do the viral equivalent of reproduction, he felt he needed to spread. What he was doing was creating his own Beta, much like what Tanya did with Warren, only he was trusting enough to give them their freedom. "But… you want to prove that you can be both a real monster and human?"

* * *

"He's just talking with the other guy and having a few beers." Heller said as he watched the two Saints from his scope. He sat down to write his report of the situation to the director. "So how are the Protos doing?" Heller asked as he pulled out his tablet. Blade always did a better job at keeping track of thee Protos than he did. Even though that was half of his job, sure he knew them all well enough but the day to day he let his second in command handle.

"Kenshi is settling well, but then again he rarely needs much. I've been keeping him on guard duty on the home base."

"Good, he does well in that role, what about Mileena. Is she behaving?"

"Yes… in that she's killed only three men. Thankfully all were under the list we gave her of acceptable targets. Cyrax has continued his work on the networks and Nightwolf has been laying out the city on its psychic plane, his reports are getting increasingly worrying. He says large parts of the psychic plane have simply being erased but from what he's reported it seems that it was a natural occurrence but that never happens… not in this amount."

"It would if there was an Omega-level dead spot. Their very presence weakens the psychic plane, and the stronger ones can destroy parts of it if they focus." Heller answered. "And unlike a bleach bomb it's a natural destruction. The plane recovers and repairs itself after the dead spot leaves."

"Yes sir… but… if Nightwolf's reports are true… then we're dealing with a dead spot stronger than any before."

"Well then I hope that this is just some freak occurrence and not a Dead spot. Is Ermac still saying this is nothing more than a natural accident?"

"Yes… but the reports from headquarters are silent on the subject."

"… Then their think on it. Waiting to see if Ermac changes his opinion on this." Heller said as his finished his report. "Whatever happens things are always going to get more crazy before they start making sense." Heller said as he sent is report and tucked his tablet away.

"That's the motto of the Psi corps… the target has handed a vial to the man." Blade said as she her CO returned to his position with his rifle and scope. "Its Blacklight isn't it?" Captain Blade asked though she knew what the answer was.

"Well… the stuff is black so… I'm going with yes." Heller said as he put the rifle down next to him. "It would seem that he is in fact spreading the virus. But I don't think we're looking at an outbreak."

"Quality over quantity sir?"

"I think so."

* * *

Gat looked at the strange liquid that seemed to cling to the glass as Alex handed him the vile.

"A real monster? Yeah… I think that might be fun." Gat had seen Alex fight and how he lived, it wasn't that different than what he himself wanted out of life. Guns, blood and Aisha, that was all he needed. And if this stuff could give more of that, what else was there to say? "To the monsters of the world." Gat said before opening the vile intending to drink the contents but was surprised to see the black liquid climb out and to leap over to him. There was a short spike of pain as the virus drilled into his body and Gat fell back coughing up blood, his body in a continuous spasm as the Blacklight destroyed his body and rebuilt it, eating at him and infecting his cells. A black and red miasma floated off his body as barbs of viral tissue lashed out and dissolved back into his body.

Alex watched the spectacle with interest, but was more focused on him in the Hive Mind. If Alex was the sun then Gat was a the size of the earth as it finished forming. It quickly circled Alex as the strain Alex gave Gat was programed to do. It was the first strain of a new paradigm, pre-programmed to instinctively come to him and recognize him as its parent.

As the virus finished infecting Gat he punched through the roof of the building they were hanging out on. Gat pulled back his fist and stared at it and then back at Alex and instantly felt it. The intensity of the feeling Gat from Alex just looking at him was overwhelming. A tsunami of power rose before him, blotting out the sun, trapping him in its all-consuming shadow until…. it vanished.

"Sorry about that, just needed to show who's boss." Alex said as he turned to throw back another beer. "By the way, you can't get drunk anymore."

"Well then that just makes the superpowers not worth it." Gat said as he opened the bottle. "So you always have this… tickling at the back of your head?" The new Viral Beta said as he sat back down next to Alex.

"No, that's just the Hive Mind, you'll learn to tune it out. But you can feel them right, everyone… we're all connected and we can feel each and every one. We'll never know each other personally but… if we see each other on a bus or something, there'll be a nod of acknowledgment or when we need to work together there'll be no bullshit. We'll get shit done because it will be in the Hive's best interest."

"Like the Saints… but… on the inside too. Sounds pretty cool." Gat nodded as he looked out on the city. "So what about…" Gat stopped when he felt something and when he looked back at Alex all he saw was anger. "… What's wrong?"

"This is a good opportunity to show you what it means to be a part of a Hive means." Alex said darkly as he stood up. "Just do what I do and try to keep up.

* * *

"He's coming, he heard… I know it." Emma quietly mumbled as she hid in the corner of her kitchen. Another plate flew past her head, shattering as it hit the cupboard behind her. He husband was yelling at the top of his lungs, she had forgotten to get the groceries today and hadn't been able have dinner ready when he got home from work. She had just planned on ordering some take but that plan didn't sit well with her husband. "He's coming." Emma said after pulling herself back after the last plate hit her.

"I work every damn day in the fucking office! Every day my soul dies in that hellhole and all I want is a nice home-cooked meal when I come home! **THAT'S! ALL**!" He continued on but she wasn't listening, she could feel that _he_ had felt her calls for help. She didn't understand how she knew that but it comforted her to know it. Something had changed after she met that woman in the shoe store, she didn't even buy anything… she just stared at the shoes. And then again later a few days ago, ever since she met that woman she felt alone, like something wasn't right and… that she wasn't looked after, she was a grown adult but that's how she felt. Like a child that had been abandoned by their parents, but that changed a few days ago. Out of nowhere that feeling left, and was replaced by a warm glow that seemed to say _Follow and listen, and you'll never be alone again_. So she listened, and she felt better.

" _He's coming… I know he is… he promised._ "

"Who the fuck are you talking about?! Are you cheating on me?! Its that bastard at the coffee shop isn't it?! With that stupid man bun, you think he's…" Her husband's voice tuned out even more until it was little more than static.

The glass window in their living room shattered, and standing on the glass shards were two men. Her eyes focused on her Alpha, he was dressed in baggy black cargo pants and large black combat boots, a purple t-shirt was covered by a black denim vest and fingerless gloves, the top of his head covered by a baseball cap but she could see his eyes, grey and red.

The other see quickly recognized as her Beta, blue jeans and white t-shirt with a purple coat and gold chains dangling from his neck, frosted white hair and glasses over his eyes. All it took was for the Alpha to see the cut on her face to respond in kind by impaling her husband. She just watched with uncaring eyes as her Alpha hurled his body into wall. A small groan of pain came from him indicating he was still hanging on to life.

"Consume him." The Alpha said to the Beta. "Just follow your instincts." After sharing a nod and the Beta walked over to her husband, the Alpha appeared over her and kneeled down to her level. "I'm sorry I took so long."

"You came… I knew you would but… how?"

"You're one of us… you may not have chosen it but it is what it is. I'll never let anyone hurt my family, and I know of a few men better suited for you." He placed his hand on her cheek. "I will take care of my own." The words were kind, but over them were the final screams of what was her husband.

* * *

Dex sat back in his apartment, he needed to get a new one. With his new senses he could smell _everything_ , but he didn't notice it right now. He was thinking how to turn this apparent curse into the payment it was meant to be.

This strain gave him highly advanced senses and the ability to make sense of what they saw, that much Dex could tell. He was smart, he could figure this shit out. On the downside it made talking with people so much harder, he could tell what they were thinking just on the smells they made alone. It also made living in the 'Row hard, all the smells and sounds assaulted him at all times, he needed money, enough to get him out of this shithole and into a nice and clean place to live.

Then it dawned on him, it was right in front of his face. He could use this power to tell what people were thinking and use that to somehow make money. It could be a neat carnival trick if he wasted it, but if he used it right it could be used in so many different ways. Politics? Nah, that didn't have the money he wanted. Maybe the business world, plenty of rich pricks willing to pay top dollar for the knowledge only he could give them.

* * *

"Okay… who would be a good fit for her… maybe that guy with the carpet-cleaning business… apart from a few issues with his mother he's a decent guy. Yeah… or maybe the artist, I could always throw them a few bucks to help keep them afloat for a while... his stuff is pretty good, and I'm sure it could sell if he just had a bit of a network going..." Alex mused as he walked into his Vila. "Dana! Luz! I'm back!" He yelled as he closed the door behind him. "Dana?" Alex popped his head into the living room to see that no one was here. "Luz should have come running… where did they go?" Alex finally found Dana in his room of all places. "Dana… what's going on?"

"Just wait for it." Dana said from the corner breakfast table in the room.

"Where's Luz?" Alex asked as he dragged a chair over to sit down in across from her. "She's in the compound but I can't find her."

"She is watching over Tanya… you do know that Luz has starting getting in into S&M right?"

"Oh yeah… it's so much more fun when you can't be killed. She _really_ likes it when I dig my claws into her back while I…"

"Stop. Just… stop. Anyways… Luz is… playing with Tanya in the basement while I'm up here to get you ready for the inevitable." Dana groaned as she waited for it.

"What are you… oh no, no no no…" Alex's face paled when he came to the conclusion of what was coming.

"OH YES!" A deep and regal voice said before the nearby window shattered as the owner of the voice crashed through with a jump kick. Said owner's boot quickly found its target, and Alex was launched headlong into the wall. "Hello my son… it would seem you have gone soft since the last time I saw you!"

"Fuck you old man!" Alex raged as he pulled himself out of the rubble before covering his eyes from the light that came behind his father.

"Fuck me? _Fuck you_! You have not kept up with your exercises, and becoming part flu is no fucking excuse." The man walked back to the window to pull the window blinds out. The light drew back allowing Alex to see his father clearly, he looked the same as the last time he saw him, cargo pants, polo shirt covering his very fit body, long black hair tied up under a bandana.

"So uncle Mal told you… and you don't seem all that disturbed by it." Alex said with narrowed eyes but wasn't really that surprised.

"Well I was at first but after he explained things to me more clearly I knew you were the same little shithead I know and love." Alex's father turned over to Dana. "And my little girl… come to daddy!"

"Dad… that gets more and more creepy the older I get." Dana lightly laughed at her father's antics. He never wanted things to ever be boring for them and so acted this way on purpose.

"You don't need to be so cold to your father." The man said before turning back to Alex after he threw a piece of wall at his head.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Can't a loving father see his kids?"

"Yes but a call would be nice first." Alex said before dusting himself off and walking out of the room leaving the father and daughter alone.

"Something wrong with him, Dana?" The father asked turning to his daughter.

"He's just pissed off because someone was snooping around one of his secrets and he just came back from dealing with it. From the way he's acting it either didn't go well or it's just because you're here." Dana said as she stood and walked over to her dad. " _I_ for one still think you coming to see us unexpectedly is sweet." Dana said as she gave her father a hug. "But you really should call first." She pulled back and led him out and to the living room. "So how's things back home?"

"Fantastic! My latest book is another flop… I just can't write what the people want I guess." He laughed boisterously.

"Maybe it's because you write sci-fi stories that are so fucking dark and depressing. Seriously dad how can you write that stuff and still be so cheery?"

"I'm cheery? You think I'm cheery? Thank you so much! That means the world to me!" Dana hated it when he would dodge questions like that, and at the oddest times no less.


	16. Just Roll With It

Author's Notes

Okay… things are going to start getting freaky. Heller's team is going to make their first move and that means we're goignto be getting into the psychic weird shit they have going on with them. I feel like I'm doing this at the right time, Marvel's doing the same thing with Doctor Strange and Iron Fist.

* * *

Alex continued to destroy his target. He was merciless, he was cold. Everyone in the room knew what was happening was unnatural, he was to strange and cruel to call it anything else.

"Alex… I know you love dad's pancakes what your starting to worry everyone." Dana said with a slight glare. Alex grunted in response to the compliant while Gat laughed at the antics, Luz just tried to ignore the whole thing as it was too conflicting for her. The only other sound in the Villa was the baritone song Alex and Dana's father sung as he cooked breakfast.

"I'll eat however I god damn please!" Alex yelled back at his sister before returning to his much beloved breakfast. "So… the plan for the Rollerz is working out so far, we've taken the former King's territory and now are keeping a fuck ton of guys there until Lin can get in good with the Rollerz boss."

"And once that happens, we pull back. Leaving just a few of our boys." Gat said returning back to their chat on the Rollerz.

"Right and when they come to…" Alex didn't get to finish his sentence because suddenly out of nowhere a woman clad in a purple combat suit appeared on the dinning table they were eating at and before Alex could react she shout him with some kind of stun rifle. It was most likely strong enough to kill a normal human but to a Viral being it could only stun. Gat was about to move to help his Alpha when he felt the cold steel of a blade on his neck. Gat couldn't see the blind operative behind him and had yet to lose his innate fear of deception like Alex had.

The first woman grabbed the limp Alex and jumped out the nearest window while the other one also disappeared. Luz fell to the ground out of shock while Dana just stared at the seat Alex had been sitting in.

"What the fuck was that?" Gat asked Dana hoping that this wasn't as a big deal as it appeared.

* * *

Alex next awoke after a bucket of acid was dumped on his head.

"Fucking God!" Alex yelled as his head struggled to heal as the acid continued to eat away at him. "What the hell is this stuff." Alex demanded as the acid gave his face the appearance of a real zombie. The acid didn't even hurt that much; he was just pissed

"That is hydrofluoric acid…" Alex looked over to the bald black man sitting in a chair nearby. "That stuff is one of the most dangerous acids known to mankind, right know it should be leaching the calcium form your skull and by the time it finishes through that, bye bye brain matter."

"Well then I've got a little surprise for you, I can regrow my brain and all the information it holds in any part of my body." Alex said smugly.

"Oaky." The man nodded to the bitch that stunned him and then she threw two more buckets of stuff on him, causing the acid to just get stronger. This time the acid really hurt causing Alex to scream. "That was a florin and antimony compound that turned the acid on your head into thee strongest acid known to man." It was at this point that Alex's biomass began actively fighting the acid, mostly shooting off the covered parts of his body. The man once again just shrugged as he and the woman left the room. Once the door was closed, the single sprinkler turned on and the chemical reaction caused the acid to explode. The two returned to the heavy breathing Alex, his whole body had patches of exposed muscle and even bone. The Viral Being's body already fast at working on fixing him.

"That… that all you got?" Alex breathed out.

"No… that's it. We just wanted you to know that you aren't some biological god or anything. There are things that can and will hurt you. We don't need a nuke to kill your ass."

"Who the fuck are you… Blackwatch right. I can smell the child killer on you." It was that, that caused a reaction from the man, which was his boot on Alex's repairing face. "Struck a nerve… good… now I know I don't need to lay a finger on you to kill you… just around your kid's neck." The man pulled out a pistol and shot Alex's jaw off. Alex still gaged out something sounding like a laugh. He looked like he was going to do more but another woman came in, this one clearly military. She said something to the man but Alex didn't have access to his advance hearing to know what was said. The man then gave one last look to Alex before following the new woman out leaving him with the one that nabbed him. She bent down to watch him heal. His arms and legs still banded together with something strong enough to resist both his strength and the acid. She had a purple bandana wrapped around her mouth and her eyes felt oddly unhuman. "Got something to say?" Alex said as his jaw reformed.

"I've never seen someone with healing powers as strong as yours." Her eyes darted across his form, taking in every detail they could. Her voice was accented but even Alex with all his memories had no idea where it was from. The closest he could say was it sound slightly French but that was still off.

"Well… I'm not like most people. If I was I wouldn't be here."

"This isn't Blackwatch, in fact Blackwatch still thinks you're dead."

"Really… because one of their agents came to this city and stole a bunch of my shit and then used that shit to make their own monster." Alex said as he sat back up to the other side of the room.

"Is that so… we were wondering where that woman came from. But I doubt Blackwatch, they're to stupid and short sighted to ever come up with a plan like that. No, they are more the marching troops and other noisy ways of doing things."

"But that's not how you guys do it." He could tell she smiled at that.

"Your trying to get information out of me. And here I thought we were having a nice chat." The woman joked before sitting down in front of him. "If you want to know something, all you have to do is ask."

"All I have to do is ask huh… what's under that mask?" There was a long stare from her but it wasn't out of anger but more curiosity. Alex had enough phycologists in his head to know how to read people and what reaction meant what. She was sizing him up for something, what he couldn't tell without more information but he could tell she was expecting something from him. It was about a full twenty minutes before she raised her hand to her bandana to remove the left latch, the cloth fell down releveling a jaw of large fangs. Alex laughed, it wasn't one of mockery but of amusement. "Too think that there are people that are just born fucked up… I had to be infected with a super virus to join such lofty heights."

"Well that's a new reaction." It was then that Alex noticed that her jaw didn't move to her words. It just held it's same slightly open position. "Most men scream when they get the full view."

"I hope you mean full view of your face because I must say you are doing quite well in other full view departments."

"Flatterer…" She said before crawling over to Alex ending with her legs around his waist. A blade of ripping blue energy formed in her hand. "I wonder… how long you keep such a disposition." The woman said before chopping Alex's head clean off. The dismembered head flew up into the air before liquidizing on the floor. Alex's head then began growing back from the stump of his spine and the rest of the tissue and flesh followed.

"Maybe for a few hours." Alex said as he cracked his neck back in to place. "I have extraordinary stamina."

"… should I take that statement at face value?"

"Sure… but unfortunately I have to cut our foreplay short this time." The look of irritation on her face was clear and apparat but vanished when she felt the spike of pain enter her thigh. She looked down and saw the viral spike extend from his side to her thigh, small tendrils wrapping around it and fusing to her body. Her mind raced, all of a sudden the gnawing scratching feeling on the edges of her mind were replaced by feelings of stability and connection. Her body fell back at the experience. Her mind saw it all the, the glorious lights that made up the Hive Mind. "Now…" Alex said as he let his biomass shift around the restraints, checking his wrists has he spoke. "… tell me everything, I'm sure that there's quite a bit."

* * *

"What do you mean Alex has been taken?" Julius demanded to Gat. Julius had called a new meeting to discuss how they would help Lin get in closer with the Rollerz but this news just made everything worse. Not only could Alex get things done faster and better than anyone but he was a point of pride to the Saints and the news that he had been taken was going to do major damage to morale.

"I mean some chick and some other dude came in all ninja style and stunned Alex and took off with him." Johnny said with a slight shrug. The new side of him was definitely feeling the loss of Alex, he felt panicked and right now he could feel the minds of everyone in the Hive Mind _Look_ to him. Right now, he was going on his time with the Saints and was _staring_ back with clear intimidation, how he was able to do so in his mind was beyond him but he was keeping the panic down. Luz had to be dealt with personally, he had gotten her to cool off with the idea that Alex would be fine, something that Gat had to tell himself, and that seemed to help Luz for a time. But at the moment Dana was on Luz watch.

And then there was Tanya. Gat had gotten his first taste of how ruthless the Hive Mind could get. The second Alex was gone; Tanya had made moves to reclaim her old toys and if it wasn't for Gat she would have gotten away with it. With the loss of their Alpha, the Vice Kings had gotten frantic and were quick to the idea of returning to Tanya. If it weren't for the fact that Alex took much better care of them and Gat was there to put them back in their place, then they would have rebelled and the Saints would have been in deep trouble.

Gat now understood why Alex needed him. Gat was there to make sure that in Alex's absence everything would be the same when he returned. So it was key that all Batas be people Alex trusted not only in the Hive Mind but in real life. They needed to be personally loyal and not just loyal because they feel compelled to be.

"It's not like this changes anything." Dex pointed out. He had finally returned. Gat was quick to stare daggers at the other Viral. Dex was the outcast, he wasn't part of the Hive Mind and even though Gat knew him for years and knew he was still a friend, he still couldn't shake the distain he now felt to Dex. It was also clear that Dex had noticed the change in Gat from the distance he kept. "We still got Johnny, and now we have Victor."

"Your right…" Julius said as he calmed down. "… Victor will keep the boys in line and Johnny can still lead them on the streets. We still need to find Alex though. Did you get a god look at these guys?"

"Well… they weren't Rollerz…" Gat paused when he felt Alex return to the Hive Mind, he wasn't alone, with him came another the same size as himself but the light that was the newcomer felt different and stayed further away from Alex. Gat could feel Alex's support and thankfulness for keeping everything under control. "… but I think we can find them quickly." Gat said before quietly letting out a sigh of relief. Dex was still able to notice, and from all the information he could get from Gat he had pieced together what happened, Alex was safe and back. Dex's teeth grinded at this, he was hoping that he would get a few days free of the monster.

"Good, get on that. For right now we need to keep the hoods we got until we can put the next part of the plan into action." Julius said before leaving the two alone in the church. The two waited until Julius had left the building before looking at each other.

"So I'm guessing Alex is safe, the tension in your body left a few seconds ago and that could only mean that your master is safe and sound."

"Why the hate man." Gat said not letting Dex's foul mood affect him. "Your one of us now…"

"I'm not one of you!" Dex growled out as he stepped forward to Gat. Instincts in both Viral Beings kicked in and Dex quickly ducked back from Gat's clawed swipe. "See… I'm not like you at all… I'm better." Dex said before leaving the glaring Bata.

* * *

Heller returned to the confinement room that they had set up only to find Mileena slouched back unconscious with a sticky note attached to her forehead. Heller leaned down and took it.

" _Later dumbass spooks._ " On the other side was a crude drawing of Alex bending over telling Heller to kiss his ass. It was even more insulting with the knowledge that Heller knew Alex had the memory and talents of professional artists and he still made the drawing this crude. After crushing the note and throwing it to the side he focused on Mileena. She didn't appear to be any harm. Heller leaned back down to reattach her bandana but the moment he touched it her hand grabbed his wrist.

"No one touches it." He looked back into her opened eyes and nonmoving mouth.

"It's good to see your unharmed." Heller said as he moved back after she released his arm.

"The target got the drop on me once, it won't happen again." She said as she reattached her bandana. "He was able to move around the adamantium binds we had on him."

"We should have expected that, I thought that at least he was limited by his skeletal structure but it seems I was wrong." Heller said as he looked around the room. "Umm… where are the binds?"

* * *

Alex twirled the cuffs around his fingers as he walked home from the airport. They clearly weren't normal steel. Mileena said that they were made of adamantium. If it weren't for the fact she could no longer lie to him he would have assumed she was fucking with him. Adamantium was stuff from comics and other fiction. But these things were strong enough to not even get dented from him trying to pull them apart at full strength.

" _I need to lay low, I've gotten back to the Hive Mind so I don't need to worry about that. I'm happy that Gat was able to keep everyone from going bat shit crazy but he's still to new at this… if I'm gone for too long it won't matter who's left to keep things under control_." Alex mused as he walked. The information Mileena had given him on these Protos and the psychic plane was intriguing and would worry him more if not for the fact that one of the reasons the Illuminati, another nice piece of information it was nice to know that even Blackwatch had bosses, had such an interest in Blacklight was that it had no link to the psychic plane and that the Hive Mind did not run on it and was even immune to it.

Mileena had little interest in all of this so had limited knowledge on any of these subjects. But simply knowing about it all helped Alex. While he never held any dreams of world domination, the mare fact there was a secret society out there, pulling the strings gave him all sorts of ideas. He loved the idea of tearing apart a system that these elites had created and watching the anarchy ensue… the problem with that was that he felt concern for all those that would get caught in the middle… not the public but his family. If he started going after some gigantic conspiracy then his family would be the first ones on the chopping block. He was better off letting the whole thing blow over.

" _But where to hide out? I doubt this Heller guy is going to take this lying down… maybe I went a little too far back there. I need to lay low for a while. The Saints are going to have to deal with the Rollerz without me_." Alex thought as he continued down the sidewalk.

* * *

Alex's father sat at the desk provided for him by his daughter. He was currently working on going over some of the students he was responsible for.

"Now if he would just focus a bit more on his studies instead of choir practice." He mumbled as he looked over the troubled students grades.

"Ever the teacher and guider that you are." Ermac said as he walked out of the nearby wall. "If you spent as much time on these kids as you should on your duties as Director of the Illuminati we would be in golden age."

"Ermac… yes I suppose that is true. But everything I do is for a purpose."

"How is the future of…" Ermac leaned over to look at the current child that was on the screen. "… Datreon Lawson worth the time of one of the most powerful beings Humanity has ever seen." He said before walking back to the middle of the room.

"Because he deserves it… they all do. My only goal in life is to help humanity… and I have set the Illuminati to do just that. And now I find myself with all this time so I shall help who I can, even on a smaller scale."

"Yes… and the fact the boy you took in as your own is by far the most powerful Dead Spot in all of human history and from what I can tell future as well… that has nothing to do with this more civilian appearance you have taken."

"The child would have died at the hands of his birth parents the second he was born. It is true that I couldn't let such a resource go to waste but I also did it to spare the child and the parents from the guilt of murdering began their own child simply because his soul affected them so drastically."

"Dead Spots do indeed cause the normal human to feel uneased by their mare presence. I can see such a reaction from his parents with the level of power he has."

"Ermac…" The man stood up to face the shadowed sorcerer. "… he is still my son, you will not alert him to his soul." Ermac face was covered by the shadow of his hood but the Director had sharper eyes than most. "I know what you're thinking, you want to loosen the seals I placed on him."

"No… I want to remove them entirely." The air around the men grew heavy. If lesser men were in the room they would have expired long before. The paint on the walls began peeling off, the wood in the bed frame cracked, the fabric in the rug quickly frayed. "It was only a idea… one I will not act on without your permission." Ermac said as he walked back to one of the walls. "I await you further orders feverishly." He said before walking through the opened portal.

* * *

Lin was not having the best of days. First, they cut her water at her apartment, then she got a notice of eviction. She knew that she could go to the Saint who now had all the money in the world because it might ruin her cover. And now she had to listen to inane babbling of some Rollerz nobodies as they check out her car. Taking a slight sigh of relief as they walked away. She really wanted to take a few shots at them but once again, she couldn't blow her cover.

"Wow, haven't seen you this pissed in a long time." Lin turned around and saw someone she didn't expect to see. Johnny Gat. He looked… different.

"What the fuck happened to you… last I heard you took a slug to the knee and now you're here like nothing happened?" She asked as he walked over to her car. "And where's the new guy, even the Rollerz know your ugly ass face."

"The new guy is laying low… but that doesn't matter right now. Julius has got a plan and needs you in with the Rollerz now."

"Easier said than done… I might have been able to get in good with them when the Saints were still in the Row, but now? Fuck no. The Rollerz boss is getting paranoid as fuck and isn't letting in anyone unless one of the upper officers gives the green light,"

"Would one of these officers give the green light if you say… saved his life." Lin smiled at that.

"Damn… Johnny when did you get so smart. Alright, one of things I have heard is that Joseph Price is the big guy calling the shots, normally that wouldn't be much. But… I found out where he goes to for his cars. He always goes to some mechanic named Donnie. Considering the work I've seen this Donnie does… let's just say that Price could afford to do better."

"So it must be because the two are tight."

"Right, you go shoot up Donnie's shop and I'll show up to save him."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Good, I can't tell how much I can't wait to kill all these bastards."

* * *

Alex was sitting back on the top of the Ultor stadium. Drinking a lemonade while sitting back in a lawn chair. He didn't know what Heller was planning but from this spot he could see it coming. Even from under the dome. He had placed a bunch of Viral Tissue under the spot he was sitting and could detect with something was coming that way. His plan worked and soon in front of him was the whole team, minus the computer nerd.

"Well look who's here…" Alex said before taking another sip. "… ready for round two?" He said jokingly as he eyed Mileena. The false look of anger that came over her face was a nice touch. On the far right was Ermac, this one Alex had the least information on. He was hiding under a heavy black and red robe that completely covered his body and face. Next to him was his newest Hive member Mileena, looking as menacing and sexy as ever.

Next to her was the blind swordsmen, Kenshi. Alex knew form Mileena's memories that he wasn't as blind as he looked. His psychic mind allowed him to do what every other blind superhero could do but better. He could _see_ the area around him in three sixty but not only that, he could simultaneously focus on any point around him to what Mileena knew was around six feet. Anything in that space he could detect and actuarily predict how, where, and when it would act. Fire a bullet and the second it entered his space he knew where it was and what path it would follow and he could react accordingly.

Next to Kenshi was the man called Nightwolf. The two made up the team's close combat deo. Kenshi with his sword and Nightwolf with his fists. A master at all forms of marital arts as his mind is able to form a complete muscle memory through observation alone. And apparently he was also the teams axillary sensor to everything strange and psychic. Currently though he was just glaring at Alex.

"Do you need any more proof than what we have before us Ermac?" Nightwolf said as he turned to his fellow Watcher operative. "He is the Dead Spot; I can feel the sheer amount of emptiness he holds in him from here.

"And yet I feel nothing." Ermac said back.

"Enough with your bickering! Let's just kill the monster!" Mileena shouted before charging at Alex. Her own psychically formed weapons formed in her hands as she charged through the air. Both Sai like blades pierced through Alex's neck, though she was careful not to hit his throat so not to prevent him from drinking his favorite drink, she just hit the blood vessels. Alex responded much to Mileena's fake horror and Nightwolf's actual horror that he just calmly just took another sip from his lemonade. Mileena quickly jumped back before the torrent of Viral spikes extended from Alex's chest.

"Interesting… close combat seems to be a suicidal endeavor. Unless…" Ermac said before turning to Kenshi. The blind man just sighed, he knew he was going to have to make up for Mileena's incompetence. Kenshi quickly followed Mileena, ducking over her followed by a slash down onto the sitting Alex but stopped just an inch away from Alex's raised hand. Kenshi pulled back his sword just in time to avoid the small tendrils that shot forward to grab the blade. "And with that it all falls to me." Ermac said as he formed a ball of green flames in his hand.

"Whoa… and I thought my life was more in the Sci-Fi genre." Alex joked. He was actually surprised at the sight of what Mileena referred to as his Soul Fire, Alex thought that name was stupid and pretentious. Ermac threw the ball of green flame to the Viral, Alex quickly moved away not knowing just what might happen. Ermac frowned at this, it was clear to him that he did in fact not know about the psychic and mystical. His Soul Fire wouldn't harm him at all… Dead Spots neutralize any psychic enhanced matter. Ermac tried to hit the man to show him that he wasn't in any real danger but he just kept dodging.

"Losing your touch there Ermac." Nightwolf jabbed at the sorcerer. He knew what the irritatingly mysterious man was doing, Alex Mercer was a Dead Spot and Ermac simply had some kind of ulterior motive for denying this.

"Not at all, the target is just far more agile than I am accurate." Ermac said as he stopped throwing his fireballs. "It would seem that range via more mechanical means is the only way to fight this man." Ermac said before holding a new ball of Soul Fire in his hands. He shot the swirling mass of energy down to the stadium room and a portal opened. "We will have to leave it to the commander." Ermac said as he dropped down through the portal.

"You all can run away but I'm not leaving until he's dead!" Mileena yelled as Kenshi followed Ermac through the portal. As Nightwolf stood over the portal he gave Mileena one last shrug to follow. Though this was retuned with a middle finger. Nightwolf sighed and put his finger to his ear.

"Mileena is being insubordinate again… yeah… yeah… sure." Nightwolf finished his conversation with Heller before turning back to Mileena. "Heller says that if you die he's not going to get in trouble." Nightwolf said before dropping through the portal. A large black, very armed, helicopter rose up into view.

"Really… you guys know how many of those things I destroyed back in New York?" Alex joked as he looked over the gunship.

"Oh we know…" Heller said over the helicopter's speaker. "… that's why we're not in it." Alex's smile faded at this. "This is a drone made just for you." One of the main guns under the right wing began spinning around before firing down bullet hell onto the top of the stadium. Mileena quickly cut a circle in the roof to jump down through still wanting to hide her new regenerative powers. Alex on the other hand wanted to see just what was different about this new toy other than it was RC. But form the first round that hit him he knew that was a big mistake and he quickly jumped out of the way of the rest. Not only did one round tear and blast a gaping hole in his shoulder but it also left behind more of that acid. Now he had this huge hole and it wasn't healing. Not only that but the Blacklight in his body had decided to cut losses and eject his whole arm due to the acid on it bleeding into his blood and leeching off its calcium, Alex had to grow four extra hearts and an entirely new organ to compensate for the blood poisoning. "How do you like the new Ripper Rounds. Made just for freaks like you." Alex snarled at the speaker, this wasn't going well for him and it only made things worse with the knowledge that they now had a weapon that could actually hurt him. With a quick slash to the roof he seeped down through before another barrage of bullets started coming down. Alex fell down to the ceiling structure, Mileena waiting for him.

"You're not winning any Oscars any time soon." Alex joked before getting punched in the still healing shoulder.

"This is not the time for jokes, and I did fine… they bought it."

"So I need to hide for real now that they have scary guns… to the sewers." Alex groaned out. "Oh this was not supposed to be how this was supposed to go." Alex mumbled as he dropped down to the empty stadium floor to find a restroom.

* * *

Author's Notes

So now Alex has three weaknesses and I use the team loosely. His cells loss structure in water due to the weakened cell wall needed to reform and mutate quickly, strong stocks and electricity, and now hyper strong acids prevent his healing factor from working at full and strong enough acids damage him so much that it takes everything to prevent it from killing him.

And we are also getting more in to psychic stuff and the Illuminati and Alex's father… don't worry people it will start making sense… yeah this shit won't really come together any time soon but believe me when I say I actually have a plan and I'm doing this for reasons.

And that you Kyle Hill from Because Science on Nerdist for teaching me about acids and other stuff.

Reviews

Umbra,Venator- Oh yes... carnage there will be of plenty

Guest- Thank you

Helkil- Never… this is my favorite story to write. And of course Evolved Shaundi, how could I not.

Rmarcno321- Thank you?


	17. Sharp Enough to Kill

Author's Notes

Yay! ten thousand views! I love you all so much, thank you for supporting this story and I promise you that it will not end any time soon.

* * *

"They did what!" Roy yelled back into the intercom. He was just informed about the fight on the stadium and the taking of Alex Mercer. This was a nightmare to Roy, the orders were to watch and report back. Nothing else, this was going to result in him standing in front of the assistant director with him yelling at him for his incompetence. "Blade, get Heller and bring him to my hotel. Have Ermac make contact with Mercer and make sure to tell him that when they make contact to not attack and to deliver a message. Tell Mercer to meet me and we can talk this out." Roy hung up angrily.

"Are sure a meeting with Zeus is such a good idea?" Risa asked she check over a map of the area around Mercer's Villa.

"I hate this… our orders were to watch. Not to act."

"Even if he spreads the virus?"

"Even then… we report the spreading. And then act on how the Assistant Director wants us to. He's the one that ordered us here and it's his call." Roy leaned back in his chair. This was really bad, they had shown their hand and now Zeus knew that someone was watching him. But was made even worse was the Heller had _Barrowed_ highly classified tech. The Ripper Rounds were the most coveted technology to come out of project Tartarus. While Project Olympus focused on using Blacklight, Tartarus was made to fight it. "I'm going to have apologize to that virus, aren't I?"

* * *

Alex leaned back against the concrete wall. The Two Virals had found their way down into the sewers beneath the stadium, it had taken quite a lot of convincing on Alex's part to get the new viral to follow him down. It was not the best first experience of changing one's own body down to a biomass slurry but Mileena was learning fast.

After a quick check with every sense he had at his disposal, Alex knew that they were in fact alone but for a small colony of rats currently in the prosses of making more of themselves. Alex smiled, it was nice to see life thriving even in places like this.

"What are you smiling about… no, how can you smile with the smell of shit all around you?" Mileena growled out from across the tunnel they were resting in.

"If you hate the smell then turn off that sense. We're all alone so we don't need to worry about getting caught off guard with the loss of one sense." Alex pointed out and after explaining just how to do what he said Mileena calmed a bit down.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well… we could play some games." Alex said and before Mileena could argue that idea, Alex held out his hand and formed a chess board out of bone. The pieces were small little organisms formed out of biomass, they looked like grotesque mockeries of the classic pieces. Tendrils of biomass extended out from the bottom of the chess board and latched themselves to the walls and celling, the end result was the chess board anchored over the smelly water between the two.

"Ah… impressive." Mileena said as she leaned forward to get a better look. "I never would have guessed you had such a control over your body like that."

"It's something that I've been working on. It's no good in combat, the level of mental effort is to much unless it's under calm and relaxed circumstances. And its limited to very basic shapes and forms. The pieces on the board are just like mini hunters, a Blacklight construct. And again, I could never make them in a combat setting, even now if I break my focus…" Alex looked away from the board and almost immediately the pieces fell apart, their biomass scrapped up by tendrils extending from the anchoring ones. "My hope is that once I get a large enough Hive, we can all work together to make things a bit more permeant." Alex said as he looked back and new pieces formed out of the tendrils, they clawed and skittered over to the right places. "C Pawn to C 4." The _Pawn_ piece, a small ivory talon like creature with the only means of movement were four insect like legs, moved as it commanded was.

"Like what? H pawn to H 5"

"I don't know… Hunters that actually work like they should. Maybe tunneling worms to help us mine for metal, stuff like that… things that could help us make money and other for military purposes. D pawn to D 3."

"It doesn't sound like you know what you want." Mileena glared at the current board. Her plan was to get her Rook out there but now Alex's bishop was posed to take it. "H pawn to H 4."

"Your right I don't. This is all wishful thinking at the moment. Right now we just need to get your friend off our backs."

* * *

Gat went through a quick check through his ammo. He felt like he was forgetting something but he just couldn't remember what. He shook his head, pushing the distracting thoughts away. He checked his watch for the time, 5:23. He really felt like there was something he was supposed to be doing around this time today. Once again he ignored the thoughts, Lin would be watching the shop for Johnny's attack and would show up around the back and save Donnie, getting her in good with the Rollerz.

Gat picked up the grenade launcher leaning next to him. He loved the fire power that came with the Saint's new wealth. Aiming his shot so it would land right in front of the garage door, thereby blowing it off and letting him have a clear shot inside. He fired the gun and launched the payload, it hit its mark and with a bang the door was off.

Gat jumped off the roof he had been readying in. his feet cracking the sidewalk a bit, another perk to being Viral was that he wouldn't have to worry about being reckless and thus be able to do the more badass stunts he always wanted to do. He popped another grenade into the shop as he walked up to the building. He then ran into the smoke that had formed from the two explosions. His heightened sight and other senses allowed him a full map of the building in his mind even with the lowered visibility. Taking a few shots to clear the room, he didn't have memories of snipers and top shots like Alex had from his buffet of Blackwatch so he lacked Alex's famous one shots.

But Gat smiled as he put away his pistols and pulled from his back his new favorite thing in the world, well second favorite… third favorite… okay forth. Then it dawned on him, today was Aisha's birthday.

"Oh fuck…" Gat mumbled as he looked down at the heavily over powered assault rifle. For the next few weeks this was the only member of Gat's favorite things list that he would be touching. He was brought out of his stupor when a Rollerz shot him in the jaw. The idiot actually smiled before he watched in horror as Gat turned back, his exposed jaw bone slowly being rewrapped muscle. "Kid… I suddenly remembered that I need to be somewhere fast. So its your likely day, I'm going to make this quick." Gat said before shooting the Rollerz's head off and proceeded to do the same to most of the remaining Rollerz. A few he missed and got gut shots instead. By the time he was kicking the door to the back garage down everything behind him was very dead, and from the look on the face's of those remaining they could tell that their best option at this point was to run away as fast as they could. Gat quickly picked out his target by one of the fellow Rollerz calling him out to run. Gat took a few shots at him but made sure to miss but he did hit the others.

Gat then watched as Donnie stumbled out of the building only to quickly get into Lin's car, the moron was so frightened that he didn't even check just who was saving him. He simply saw it was a blue car and just assumed Rollerz. Gat took a few shots at the two and accidentally hit Lin's car, he was going to pay for that later, but they made it out of the area safe enough.

* * *

"I'm telling you, that guy that shot up my shop is dead." Donnie boosted as he led Lin through the Sharp Mansion. "The second the boss hears what happens, gone. That dude is good as dead."

" _Is he trying to impress me by bragging about his connections?_ " In thought while trying not to smack the moron over the head for his stupidity. "Yeah… well the things I've heard, a fight between Johnny Gat and your Boss would be fight worth seeing."

"Oh totally, but Johnny has got nothing on…" Donnie stopped talking when a vase hit the wall next to his head.

"You want to say that again!" Joseph yelled to the dark skin man in a lab coat. The man just stared uninterested at Joseph's anger, Lin eye's narrowed when she saw the man, this was someone she didn't recognize. The other man in the room sitting at the large desk was clearly Willum Sharp, the sorta leader of the Rollerz and the huge muscled dude clearly pissed off was Joseph Price, Lin knew who these guys were but the other… not a clue. "Your saying we should just let those Saints keep what's ours!"

"What we lost was only what we took. We haven't lost any of our territory only the newly conquered King's territory. If we retaliate now… we risk losing ground that we can't afford to." The man said calmly and clearly. This was not good to Lin, this guy was smart, everything was good when it was just Sharp and Price. Price's temper was well known to ruin everyone's day and the Rollerz's best prepared plans and Sharp was too concerned with his bottom line to make a risky choice that was needed to win a gang war. But this man, he was an unknown and what she could tell from just from listening to him now, he was the biggest threat to the Saints.

"Doctor Ragland is correct Joseph, right now we need to look to the shipments to our friends overseas. Once we get the confirmation of a formal partnership, we will crush the Saints." Sharp said as he went through some more legal documents that concerned said deal. "The neighborhoods that we took from the Vice Kings during their fall was nothing but a buffer to the Saints. And now it has served its purpose."

"But we can't let them disrespect us like that! They took what was ours, we should go and teach them a lesson."

"So they disrespected you, they will all be dead soon enough and what they thought of you won't matter." Lin noticed that Joseph calmed a bit down at the man's cold logic bt the way he said it… Lin could tell he didn't believe what he was saying. Like he knew that Rollerz were already doomed.

"Alright… yeah… your right, doesn't matter. They'll be dead soon enough, so why should I care what they think." Joseph then turned back to see Donnie and Lin standing in the door, a big smile coming to his face at the sight of his best friend. "Hey Donnie! How's it going man?" Joseph said as he brought Donnie in for a hand shake.

"Doing just fine thanks to Lin." Donnie said as he stepped back after the handshake then looked back to Lin. "She just saved my ass from a attack on my shop by Johnny Gat. Get this, he did it all by himself."

"Damn… I and I thought the bastard was crazy before. But now… he's just a dead crazy bastard, he just doesn't know it yet." Lin kept back the groan at the cheap line. "And thanks for saving my boy, takes guts to take on a psycho like Johnny Gat."

"Take's the same guts to be the best racer in all of Chinatown."

"Then how come I've never heard of you before?"

"Cause I got tits."

"Joseph." Mr. Sharp said gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "As much as I love the fact that Donnie is alive and health." It didn't sound like it from the way he said it. "But if Donnie was attacked that mean's they are going after high value targets now. Doctor Ragland…" Mr. Sharp said as he turned to Ragland. "I'm upping the amount guards I want on you and when you are not in your lab I want you here. I'll have Shepard set up the guestroom for you."

"You have my thanks Mr. Sharp." Ragland said with a slight bow in the form of a nod.

"And Donnie…" Mr. Sharp said turning to Donnie, form the look on his face it was clear to Lin that he didn't have the same opinion of Donnie that Price did. "… you will get the same guard as Doctor Ragland, and I'll have a few boys outside your apartment."

"Hold on, why does the doc get to stay with us and not Donnie?" Joseph asked clearly not happy with the favoritism while not seeing his own.

"Because I said so. Now Joseph, you will rally the men and make sure that the Saints gain now more ground. I didn't say to move on any of their territory or to reclaim ours, we have to wait for the deal to go through and once that is done… we will have the full support of the Syndicate to destroy the Saints with." Mr. Sharp only then focused on Lin. "And as for you young lady, I thank you for your help in saving Donnie…" What happened next shocked everyone but one in the room. Joseph and Donnie watched wide eyed as Lin fell to the ground, her arms over her gunshot wound in her gut. "… but I hardly believe the idea that a lady like you would stick her neck out for someone like Donnie." Mr. Sharp said as he set the pistol on his desk and went back to his papers.

"What the Hell?! She saved Donnie and you repay her with a gut shot?!" Joseph yelled as Donnie went to try to help Lin.

"The fact she heard about our current deal was reason enough, my feelings on her motive for saving Donnie aside. Doctor, could you inform Shepard that he will need to clean up blood today."

"Of course sir, do you think we could speak about that request I made over some…" Ragland's dinner plans had to wait as the next thing everyone knew was someone crashing through the window. None of them had time to react before the figure had beat down Joseph with a few moves and knocked Donnie away before scooping Lin up and running back out the window where he came from. The only man not surprised by the whole thing calmly stared out the window contemplating just what this new development meant. "… I think I shall return to my lab and collect my things, I'm sure that you will have the window repaired and reinforced by the time I get back." Ragland said before walking out of the room. Price just glared as he did so before turning to his uncle.

"How the hell can you not get the creeps from that man." Joseph said as he stood up and went to help Donnie. "We get attacked and he just stands there like nothing is happenin'."

"He is merely of stronger character than the two of you." Mr. Sharp said as he leaned back in his chair, his hands tightening around his cane as he stood up. In truth, Mr. Sharp was as put off by Ragland's eerily calm behavior but would not say so. Ragland had done well and worked hard in his employment and to speak ill of such a man was unbecoming of himself. "Now I hope that you can track down the assailant and make sure he heard none of what went on."

* * *

Alex looked at his board… he needed a miracle.

"D… 7?"

"Miss."

"Damn it!" Alex yelled as he put another bone white peg in the said hole. The pair had moved on from chess after six games, five for Mileena and one for Alex. So they moved on to Battleship. Alex had thought about doing something a bit more… physical but that idea was swashed when he took into account their current location.

"A 3."

"Hit… damn it…" Alex once again took off another suck ship. "Maybe the next game we play could be something I might actually win… like…" Alex stopped when he felt the distress Gat was sending out into the Hive Mind.

"What is that?" Mileena asked still not familiar with the sensations that the Hive Mind caused.

"My other Beta is in trouble… no… he's not the one in trouble." Alex focused into the Hive Mind and felt the stress and feelings of helplessness coming off Gat. "I'm going to need you to send a message with your telepathy."

* * *

Gat had no idea why he knew to come to this place but as he watched Ragland pull the bullet out of Lin he was sure happy he did.

" _Must have been Alex… huh… should I start callin' him boss now? But… Alex still takes orders from Julius… whatever not important._ " Gat shook away the thoughts as he returned to focusing on Ragland and Lin. It was a bit of a shock to see that Alex's doctor friend was the same Rollerz guy he saw with Price and Sharp. But he didn't have time to ask questions.

"She will live… my patron is not the man he used to be and missed a vital artery by about an inch. Your interruption provided a nice distraction to him, without it he would have noticed his mistake." Ragland said as he started working on the damaged tissue. He was working on the assumption that Alex did not want this girl infected and had to do this the old fashion way.

"Yeah…" Okay, he brought it up. Now Gat had to ask what he wanted to ask since meeting this guy. "Just who the fuck are you?" The man didn't miss a step and continued working as if Gat wasn't even there, which was good because he was currently saving Lin's life.

"I am a doctor that saved your Alpha's life many times, he has rewarded me by allowing me to be the sole person in the world to be able to research Blacklight with his blessing." Ragland said never looking up from his work. "I only work for Mr. Sharp in exchange for protection and funding. I personally could care less for either his or your causes. Rollerz… Saints… they all me nothing to me. Only Blacklight holds any interest to me." Ragland said before wiping away the last bit of blood from Lin's body. "I have cleaned and stitched up her wound. I recommended she be taken somewhere safe and lots of fluids, she has lost quite a bit of blood and needs to replenish it." Ragland said before walking over to one of the many lab tables to continue more of his experiments before he needed to prepare a travel bag.

"Thanks…" Gat said before gently picking Lin up in his arms. "… You sure you don't anything for this?"

"I require nothing you have." Ragland dismissed the offer with a wave of his hand.

* * *

"So how are they doing?" Alex asked Mileena as he consumed the last of the biomass he expelled for their games.

"She is safe and out of danger." Ermac answered as he walked through the nearby wall surprising the two Virals. "Don't worry… I am not here to harm. Our Colonel wishes to speak with you." Alex stared back at the clocked man, he could feel a slight relief come over Mileena. He knew that Heller was their Commander and this man had said Colonel, that was two ranks above Commander in their ranking system.

"What does he want to talk about?" Alex asked, he was open to a more peaceful ending to this all.

"He wishes to apologize for his subordinates' action and extend a not so formal relationship between the main branch of the Illuminati and you." Alex continued to stare at the man, it was increasingly hard to read him, his face was covered in a shadow caused by his hood and his clothes were to heavy and thick to gage his body's reactions and there were no scents coming off him at all. Alex continued to rely on Mileena's judgment on the situation and how she was reacting to this.

"Then I guess I will speak with him."

* * *

Gat laid Lin out on one of the couches in Alex's Villa. This was the best place for her given that it was highly likely that the Rollerz were now looking through her apartment. But at least he was able to hear their plans. Julius needed to know that if they didn't do something soon that the Rollerz would have the support of a international crime empire, and one far larger and stronger than the Cartel. Just as Gat was about to call Julius, Aisha number showed up.

"Ah shit… better get this over with now." Gat said before answering the call. "listen baby, I know I forgot…" Gat stopped when he noticed a distinct lack of yelling. "Who is this and what have you done to Aisha?!" Gat got a response in the form of laughter.

"So this bitch really is Aisha? I thought she looked familiar." It was Price, Gat's anger almost made him crush the phone. "Well here's the thing, you heard something that you really shouldn't know. And I'm sure by now you've told that prick Julius everything, so here's what going to happen. You are going to bring him, Dex, Troy, and Alex to Ultor Stadium or I get to fuck myself a local celebrity. And then I'll send you the bits and pieces." Price said smugly before hanging up.

* * *

Alex climbed out of the manhole, taking in a moment to breath in the cleaner air. He was not taking a stupid portal out of the sewers.

"Are you done yet?" Alex looked up to see a man standing over him with a the same face Alex has every time Tanya speaks, pissed.

"Yeah…" Alex said as he pulled himself up to stand across from the man. Behind him was Heller and the blond woman that he saw back at their base and the rest of Heller's team behind them. The new man was wearing a simple blue officer suit covered by a black overcoat. His hair was black and combed slightly back, a small cut had scared each of his eyes. It was clear that this man had seen combat. "…so… do have something to say?"

"On behalf of the Illuminati I apologize for my subordinates' actions. Our mission was to only watch and report back. We never meant to attack you. They simply misunderstood their position." It looked painful for him to say these things to Alex. "And since you now know of us, the main branch of the Illuminati wants to assure you that we have no wish to antagonize you."

"And what about your other branch, Blackwatch?"

"Blackwatch… they are meant to be the protectors of humanity against plague and sickness. They have taken to Blacklight under their own choice, Blacklight has been determined to be a nn threat to humanity in your hands. The director of the Illuminati has made his choice and we will follow it."

"But your not going to tell Blackwatch?"

"No… if they knew then they would likely separate from our organization." Alex smirked at this, that meant they had more to loss than he did, and that meant he had all the power in the relationship.

"I want her." Alex pointed to Mileena who had joined her team behind Heller. "Then all is forgiven." The man turned back to Mileena with a shocked look on his face, she just returned it with and shrug.

"I'm not sure that I'm authorized to do that." The man said clearly not expecting any demands let alone one of his own operatives.

"Very well… I guess I'll go and attack some TV station. How much you want to bet that will get on the news?"

"Wait! Fine… I'll check with my superiors. I'm sure that they won't mind to much." The man said this but it was written on his face that he was not looking forward to this.

"What?! You can't do this! Mileena is one of my…" Heller was stopped when a burst of fire appeared under him. Heller simply stood a bit straighter and let the blond woman extinguish the flames from his legs with the fire extinguisher they had ready.

"Commander, this is your screw up and that means you are the one who has to pay." The man turned back to Mileena after chewing out Heller. "I assume your onboard with this, you've always been outspoken on how you're not happy with our arrangement." Mileena didn't say anything, she just walked past them all to join Alex. "Very well, if that concludes our business, Ermac." Ermac nodded and a large portal formed behind them. "More than likely we will be sent away with a new team replacing us. I don't know when but I doubt they will tell you."

"Thanks for the heads up, and if your ever feeling the urge to become an immortal super being, call me." Alex joked, but in truth he wouldn't turn the man down.

"I'll remember that." The man chuckled before walking through the portal just before it closed.

"You've been feeling it too?" Mileena asked but wished she hadn't. The pure rage and fury radiating off Alex only amplified and showed once the Illuminati operatives left. She could feel the worry, sadness, and anger coming from the other Beta and she knew that Alex was far better at interpreting those feelings them she.

"Yeah… from the direction I can feel him heading towards the stadium." Alex said as he walked down the alley they had been in and looked across the street the mass of Rollerz in the parking lot. They had their cars all parked in a circle but for a small opening. Alex could see them all huddled around the circle and Alex could piece together what they were planning from how Gat was feeling and what they were going to do. "I need you to do something, go to my place and tell Dana that she might need to do some cover up work."

"Do you really need it? They're just humans." The glare she received from her Alpha was all the answer she needed.

* * *

Joseph leaned back on one of his more favorite cars. Things had gone even better than he hoped for. His original plan had been to wait in Johnny Gat's apartment and corner him there but to his surprise he found Aisha, he was pretty sure that she died or something. But it worked out, he had the perfect hostage and soon Gat would deliver him the whole leadership of the Saints.

"Hey boss! I think one of them came a bit early!" One of his boys yelled out to him, pointing to the incoming man that fit the description of Alex Mercer. This did rise a few red flags for Joseph but not enough to worry him.

"Take him out, I'm not looking forward to seeing this guy's one shot he's so famous for." Joseph ordered to his boys who quickly huddled behind their circle of cars to have some cover. They began firing on the approaching Saint. To the horror of the Rollerz and Joseph's slight expectation considering the stories he heard, Alex didn't lose a single step, he may have moved out of the way for a few the shots but most just hit him.

"Guy must be packing some space age armor shit or something." Joseph heard one of his boy say before he walked over to one of the few trucks in the circle. He popped the trunk and pulled out the rocket-launcher he had brought just in case the more insane rumors were true. Joseph dropped the massive weapon on the hood of the truck to help his aim and fired. The rocket shot over the Rollerz and flew towards Alex… who caught it mid air.

"Okay… wasn't expecting that." Joseph mumbled as he watched Alex look over the rocket before he snapped the thing in half. He threw the propulsion end behind him and threw the actual explosive end back to the Rollerz football style. They all dove back to try and avoid the expected explosion but none came… at first. Alex pulled out his pistol and shot the dud rocket that did indeed cause a large explosion that only opened a hole in the ring of cars as any Rollerz had ran to a safe distance by that point.

They all watched as Alex walked through the still flaming hole in their wall of cars, a few of them even pissed themselves at the terrifying sight. To many of them it was like this man was death itself and had come for them.

"I assume your Joseph Price?" Alex asked, his gaze locking on to Joseph. His face a complete blank, there was a slight scowl but it was hard to notice as many of the Rollerz were to scared.

"Yeah." Joseph growled, his fists tightening with the expectation that this was going to end up in a fist fight.

"Good… you're not like the rest of your gang. You actually have some backbone. Now I don't know what you did to piss Gat off and now that I've gotten a good look at you… I don't want to know." That caused Joseph's eyebrow to raise. "But… I just need to know… there's only one thing that would piss Gat off this much. Is Aisha dead?" The man's voice had turned… the only word that could even remotely describe it was demonic and even that was understating it.

"Nah… she's still kicking." Joseph didn't back down, he had met people like this before. He used to be like his boys, so weak that he would crower at the sound of men like this. Not anymore, he had worked too hard to never be like that again.

"Good… did you touch her?"

"Dragged her out but not what you're askin'."

"I see… then I have no problem with what I'm about to do." That was all Joseph heard before the Saint disappeared from his view for a second only reappear in front of him. "Welcome to the family." Joseph gaged out a bit of blood before looking down to see that the Saint had stabbed with his hand, it was misshapen and mutated and had strange black and red tendrils extending into his gut. That was the last thing he saw before passing out.

* * *

Author's Notes

Ah shit, who was expecting that?

Now… I need to say a few things about reviews. Now I want people to review as much as they want and I am willing to take criticism as long as it has a point. Second, if you have a account here on FanFiction, then will PM you a reply if it's more than a short response, if you have a question or I feel that it might take too much to put on a chapter then I will PM, I'm doing this so I won't dilute the word count on this story and people can get an actuate size of the story. If you are a Guest then I will still respond the normal way but I will be keeping it down to a minimum. I will also be only responding to Reviews of the latest Chapter. Thank you all for your support.

Reviews

Helkil- thank you

\- thank you


	18. Begnning of the End

"Thank you come again." Ralph said as his last customer of the day walked out the door. Today had been an slow day but it was fine, he had needed an easy day. "Should I just get some pizza on the way home or maybe…" He thought outload as he walked over to flip the closed/open sign over.

"I'd go with the sub… healthier." A voice from back at the counter said.

"I know but…" Ralph looked back shock when he realized that someone was there, everyone else had left an hour ago. But now sitting on his front counter was a man that he had never seen before but in his mind he knew him very well. "You're…"

"Yup…" The man said as he kicked off the counter. "… it's good that you could recognize me quickly. You see Ralphy boy… you and me are family." The man said making a motion to him and Ralph. "And I take care of my family. I know you've had some hard times, mostly with women." Ralph could think of anything to say, he just stood there letting this man he had never seen before talk nonsense, well the part about women was true but the idea that they were family was nuts. The only family he had was his mother and grandfather. "You don't believe me?"

"No… I've never seen you… before in my life. And you come in here talking like…" Ralph stopped when the man raised his hand.

"Remember that job you took about a month ago. Bratty woman called in saying that her apartment's carpet was stained with blood." That made Ralph think, and the man was right… there was that very unpleasant customer who had hired him to clean up a big blood stain. Funny thing was when he met her, he never asked just how it was that so much blood could have gotten on the carpet and after the job was done when he asked to be paid… she said no and he for some reason accepted it.

"Yeah…" Ralph said uneasy.

"You see… she infected you with something. I won't go into detail but it made you and I family. You, me… and everyone else infected with it is connected together. As I said, we're family. And I'm the head of that family and as head I look out for my own." The man said before walking over to the framed picture of his mother.

"Hey wait…" Ralph mumbled as the man took the picture off the wall, he wanted his voice to be louder but he couldn't find himself to do so.

"Your mother's medical bills will be paid in full by the end of the week." That was… unexpected. "If you want I can get her moved better hospital too." The man said as he put the picture back on the wall. Ralph honestly didn't know what to say.

"Why… why would you do something like that?"

"Because we're family… how many times do I have to say that. I help out my family, whether it's you with your crushing debt or… removing an abusive husband that doesn't deserve what he has." Out of no where Ralph could feel himself growing a little bit angry but not at the man who was standing in front of him. It was at this mentioned abusive husband that he never knew existed until seconds ago. "And here's the problem that has brought you to my personal attention. After I removed said asshole… oh sorry… I know you don't like harsh language." The man said before taking out a dollar and putting it in the nearby swear jar Ralph had set up for his employees. "As I was saying, after I removed the man… our other family member was left without anyone to take care of her. Having no skills or job history, she is unable to support herself, though I am perfectly willing to support her all on my own. But I felt that you and her would be a good match for each other."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that in about twenty four hours, a woman will be at your door. And you will take her in. I have chosen you because I know that the two of you are perfect for each other, both in situation and personality. Think of this as a real life fairy tale and I take the role of the fairy godfather."

"It sounds like you're a different kind of godfather, your giving me money, and… what I'm assuming is a wife. And for what… because we're somehow family?"

"I know it's difficult to understand, but why would you need to. Everything you just said I'm doing… you don't actually have much say in it. It's all going to happen, she needs someone and you need money… and I know that you've been fairly unsuccessful in romantics. You keep going after the wrong women. This one is kind and not after a quick buck. This is a good thing, let good things happen." The man said before walking out of the front door.

* * *

"Was that really necessary?" Mileena asked leaning back on the said over the building Alex just exited.

"Not really but he's family now. Mine and yours. We do unnecessary things for family." Ale said as he started walking back home with Mileena walking right behind. She had taken a more civilian look of jeans and a large purple and black jacket and even larger hood. The only thing from her former operative attire that was left was the cloth that covered her lower face though it had become unneeded as Alex had shown her how to change her surface biology. The response that she would no longer have to worry about what people thought of her due to her appearance was a quick and tender hug to her Alpha followed by a punch to the gut to hold on to a scrap of her personal respect. Mileena had explained that mutation was a common byproduct of being born as a Proto-Novus and it most often took in the form of physical abnormalities.

"So what now… the big morn you evolved yesterday should be waking up to his _welcome to family_ gift any moment now. The other Beta is protecting his woman like a dog... I do hate that I can tell when they are screwing each other."

"Yeah." Alex laugh. Sex seemed to activate the Hive Mind's natural alert system and while it was nice to know that Get and Aisha were doing good… that novelty wore off rather quickly for Mileena.

"So what's the next step for us?" Alex stopped walking and turned back to his Beta.

"Exactly how long have you been without any direction." Mileena just looked back at him with the same unreadable look in her eyes. "I don't have a plan beyond taking Stilwater for the Saints. After that I plan to eat, drink, whore, and whatever the fuck I want. That's my plan. Even though now I know that Blackwatch isn't on my tail… wait…" Alex though back. "… Your boss said that Blackwatch didn't know about me being in still water right?"

"Um… yeah. We were sent specifically to keep a watch on you without Blackwatch knowing." Mileena said in a confused tone, her worry rowing as she felt the anger building in her Alpha.

"That means that someone has betrayed me!" Alex roared as he made an enhanced dash to his Villa to confirm something.

* * *

Joseph opened his eyes to a bed canopy he didn't recognize. He pushed himself up a bit, the bed was again… not one he had seen before. The room seemed to be decorated in a slight Mediterranean décor but he hadn't noticed as the second he had started moving he noticed something far more shocking. The normal aches and pains that he had felt for so long weren't there. For years, he had woken up to severe pain in his body but now… nothing. He felt normal.

Before he could think on it more, he felt something move under the sheets.

"Good morning Mr. Price." A highly attractive woman said as she came out of the sheets followed by two more still very attractive women. All of them looking at him with hungry eyes and seductive smiles. This was rising some red flags with Joseph. One because he had no memory of last night and two was because while many men would kill to be in this position, he dreaded it. Due to his steroid use his manly parts had… ceased to work on demand.

"Well… are you going to say anything?" One of the women asked and he was going to have to say something either really stupid, embarrassing, or rude to get out of this situation but then… God's grace had shinned down on little Price.

* * *

"From the sound of it, Price seems to be enjoying the welcome to the family gift Alex had set up for him." Dana said from the dining room table as she checked the news on her new tablet.

"You really should get the guest room sound proofed." Victor said as he tried to ignore the very load sex the four upstairs were making. "That Estúpido better be grateful to the boss for fixing his body."

"What I want to know is why Alex made him you of them. He didn't just make him an Infected like Luz but Evolved." When Alex had brought back Joseph back to the Villa, he had explained to Dana, Victor, Gat, Luz, and the new chick that Dana still didn't quite understand who she was yet just what Price was and had gone into more detail about the types of Viral Beings there were.

The first and lowest on the rung of food chain were the Infected. And under that there were two types of Infected. The first is the Zombies that terrorized New Yorkers and made for great stress relief for Alex. They were people who the virus overpowered and ran rampant in their bodies. Above them were Infected like Luz and everyone Tanya infected. They had a controlled strain that could either have a parasitic or a symbiotic relationship with the host. Zombies relied heavily on the Hive Mind for general guidance but mostly just acted in much the way Zombies do. While other Infected brand that Alex had dubbed as Serfs were subconsciously connected to the Hive Mind and could still function in their normal lives so long as they were connected to a active mind in the Hive Mind otherwise the Strain in them might start growing out of control. Turning them in the yet seen Slave class of Infected. Alex had talked about this with Ragland and apparently they had come to the theory that should someone who had been Infected with a Serfs class of strain and not properly taken care the strain in them would continue to grow until it resembled close to the second generation of Ragland's Pinklight virus. They would lose all sense of self and would only be able to function in basic tasks when oversaw by a more capable member of the Hive Mind. Alex had not seen the purpose of this Slave class and considered the very thought of not taking proper care of who he considered family to be appalling.

Above Infected were the Viral Constructs, although the idea that they were above the Infected was a bit miss leading. Alex said they are only above them in the Hive Mind, Dana still had a hard time understand the whole lights metaphor Alex used when describing the Hive Mind but apparently Infected were a lot smaller than the Constructs like the Hunters or Alex's last monster he left in New York. Alex had explained that Constructs either can be grown naturally in a Blacklight environment such as the heavily infected buildings that served as birthing hives in New York. Or they could be grown in large amounts of Biomass and heavy guidance from the Hive Mind, Alex had said that he had a few ideas on how to make this process better but as he didn't need Constructs he had put those on ice for the time being.

And lastly there were the Evolved. Those that held the same powers as Alex… although considerably lessened. Alex had explained that those that had humans can become Evolved if they either are already perfectly compatible with Blacklight like him or are given a child strain of an already Evolved Viral Being. Alex had already stated that the chances of someone being as compatible as him were so high that it wasn't going to happen. So that left the child strain method, Alex had given his own to Gat and the other woman and now Joseph Price but Alex had explained that the one he gave Price was very different than one Gat had. Gat had been given one that Alex had made with about eighty percent of his own Strain and twenty percent of junk Strains. The one he gave the woman was about seventy/thirty. But Joseph had been given only about twenty/eighty. The difference between Joseph and Luz was that Luz's body was still uninfected, only her spine and brain had been infected with a Blacklight strain and while it was true that tendrils of Blacklight had intertwined with the rest of her body it still kept separate from her body. Joseph's every cell had been infected with Blacklight, although it was in fact highly diluted.

Dana finished up he own thoughts as the sounds of intercourse finished and the sound of the girls coming down came. Dana handed out the cash that Alex had left for the girls, they were just some of the whores that worked for the Saints but Alex had insisted on paying them in full despite the fact their pimp had given the Saints a discount. The sounds of another meant that Price had decided to find out just who's house he was in.

"So Price, how's having your little you back up in running?" Dana asked not looking up from her tablet as he came into the room only wearing a slightly too small purple robe.

"How the fuck…" Joseph stopped talking when he noticed that Victor was in the room. "…hey your…"

"Good morning…" Luz sung as she walked right pass Joseph to her waiting breakfast. "… Dana dear could order me that…"

"Yes!" Dana groaned. "The freaky sex you and Alex have is already freaky enough without… additions. I had to burn my last tablet after I ordered… that."

"That you… oh Joseph, bravo on your last two hours." Luz said with a knowing wink.

"Uh… what the hell is going on?"

"Yeah… you're going to want to sit down." Dana sighed before nodding to the seat across from her. Joseph looked over to the large bulk of muscle that was Victor. "He won't bite." Joseph looked back Dana with a slight glare before sitting down. "Well the first thing is that your not exactly human anymore… but my brother would say that as long as you still think of yourself as human you are but… you really aren't. You are now part virus." Joseph just leaned back and stared at Dana. She, along with the rest of those in the room had expected him to start yelling and maybe throw stuff hence the need for Victor in the room. But he just sat back and listened. As Dana continued to tell what had happened to her and her brother and then just what was happening in Joseph's body. In short, he was getting the quickest and most effective detox treatment as the Blacklight destroyed the chemicals that Joseph had put in his body. "So… what do you think?" Joseph just clicked his tongue before hanging his head back and taking a deep breath.

"For the first time in a long time… I feel… normal. I've tried so much shit to get this back… I can't say that your crazy because I know that it can be the only thing that makes sense for what I'm feelin'."

"Oh yay!" Luz said excitedly before getting up and running to the front door.

"She's not happy that you're believing this shit but because Alex is back." Dana said before looking up to see a very angry Alex coming in to the room.

"Where's Tanya?!" Alex yelled out shocking everyone in the room.

"She's out cleaning the pool." Dana said uneased by Alex but not scared. He stormed out of the room and to the pool with Luz, Victor, and Joseph following and even Mileena when she caught up with him in time to see him dig his claw into Tanya's head, tendrils extending into her head out from his arm and soon some form his own head joined them. They all watched as Tanya's head contorted in ways that disgusted Joseph and Victor, and amused Mileena and Luz. Alex soon dropped Tanya on the ground, still alive but in a vegetative state that with help from Alex later she would recover from.

"Fuck! Victor! I need you and the new blood to come with me. Luz I need you to prepare the basement for full pain and no pleasure!" Alex ordered as he walked pass the four.

"What about me?" Mileena asked as she followed her Alpha.

"Oh yeah I forgot… you come to, I need you to confirm what I'm thinking.".

"Alex… what's going on?" Dana said as Alex walked through the dining room.

"Ragland is trying to fuck with us!"

* * *

Gat looked on to the sleeping Aisha before looking out the window. He felt that Alex was pissed again. But he didn't feel the need to join him. That was fine, he was needed here. When he had found Alex siting in the ring of Rollerz cars he wasn't that surprised. Alex had infected the Rollerz that had been there and had stored Joseph in the truck of one of the cars. When Alex had told him that he was recruiting Joseph to his Hive they had a shouting match over it.

In retrospect Gat knew that Alex had done it to let Gat let out his anger and that he could at any time enforce his will simply by exerting his will through the Hive Mind. Alex had confirmed that Aisha was just kidnaped and nothing more which wasn't that bad in his book.

Gat had really messed up this time. Not only had he forgotten her birthday but it was because of him that she had gotten kidnapped. When he had said this to Aisha she slapped him and nearly yelled at him for an hour. He didn't yell back, he couldn't have. He just did what Alex did but for different reasons.

In the end the two of the decided that they would move out of the Row and to the Suburbs once the Saints had driven the Rollerz out. Once the Saints had conquered Stilwater, they would try to fade off and live off her royalties.

* * *

Victor and Joseph both locked Ragland down in one of his chairs. Joseph taking a bit more enjoyment out of than Victor. While it was hard for him to kill the Rollerz stationed outside Ragland's lab it was less an ordeal than he thought it was going to be when the time came. He wasn't keyed on the details of what the doctor did to piss Mercer off but he was happy when he had punched the bastard in his smug and confused face.

"I got a confirmation that Blackwatch has no idea we are here." Alex growled out as he stared down the clearly terrified Ragland. "I had completely forgotten about it, the memories of the night Tanya was given her Strain. I believed you when you said that Blackwatch was the ones behind it but now with the news that Blackwatch doesn't know we're here in Stilwater… that leaves only one person with access to Blacklight."

"Alex… I would never betray you. I've saved your life, we've worked together to create such marvelous things with Blacklight. Why would I ever want to run it all?" Ragland pleaded but Alex continued his glare though it had softened a bit. Alex then turned to the woman Ragland had never seen before and nodded toward him. She nodded back and walked in front of Alex and began staring deep into Ragland's eyes.

"Over the past few days I've gained knowledge on a few strange freaky truths. Blackwatch is only a sub branch of a global secret organization and one of its other branches deals with something even more strange and freaky than me… psychics… Victor stop laughing."

"Sorry boss… but really? You expect me to…" At that Mileena turned her focus from Ragland to Victor.

"My my… you seem to have an almost obsession level interest in mother daughter lesbian pornography." At that moment, Victor turned as pale as anyone could get as all eyes in the building turned to him.

"Okay… I really didn't need to know that… you could have just said the name of his home town or something not creepy." Alex said rubbing his head in irritation. "But I think everyone gets the point. So, did Ragland fuck me?" Alex said as he turned his attention back to the accused.

"I don't know… turns out this man is a psychic deadspot like you." Mileena answered. "He's not nearly as strong as you, but enough to where he's immune to me."

"I see then I have no choice…" Alex said as he turned to one of Ragland's work tables. Alex walked over and grabbed the closest strain of Blacklight he could get. "… once you're an Infected you can't lie to me. Now what does this Strain do?"

"It um… eighty percent of the person's skin ruptures, toes grow together, and numerus tumors and inlaid growths."

"Fine then… I'll stop those last two." Alex said before crushing the vile in his hand. The black liquid flowed around the tendrils that extended from Alex's hand. The tendrils shot forward, leading the new strain to its new host within a second, they pierced Ragland's chest. Victor and Joseph let the man go as Ragland's body shook and shuddered as it reacted to the Blacklight. Soon his body was just like he described, his face was covered in scarred and broken skin that every assumed had extended down through the rest of his body. Alex didn't notice as he was concentrating on the Hive Mind and Ragland's presence in it. Alex focused on the small light that had just popped in before returning to Ragland. "So… welcome to the Hive. Now tell me… did you give Tanya her Strain." Ragland didn't respond for a moment, his eyes just looked passed Alex, like he was looking at something that wasn't there.

"So this is the Hive Mind… it's beautiful." Ragland mumbled before kicked down to the floor by Alex.

"Tell me the truth Ragland! Did you betray me?!"

"I never betrayed you… is that what you want to hear. I did not provide the girl with her strain. I don't know who did." Ragland said not getting up from the floor. Alex continued to stare at Ragland before pulling him up and dusting him off.

"Okay… I'm sorry. You and me have been through some much together… the idea that you betrayed me just… I'm sorry. I would like to say I shouldn't have done this but I needed to be sure. When the business with the Rollerz and Saints is done I'll work on getting your body back." Ragland didn't respond, he just returned his work.

"I think it would be best if you left." Alex sighed before nodding to the other three. They all left the doctor to return to his work. Once the sound of the door closing behind them he smiled. "It would seem my Whitelight Vaccine is success. But… psychics… even I wasn't expecting that."

* * *

Alex sat back in his living room couch. He wasn't sure if he had handled the situation with Ragland right. This was a man that had saved his life, sevreal times. Without him Alex would never have the Strains he had now. The man was nothing but friend and ally and Alex had hurt him on a assumption. He would need to make it up to Ragland in some way.

"Alex." Julius' voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts. Alex had invited Julius, Troy, and Dex over to his place to plan out the final attack on the Rollerz. He had told Julius and the others what happened with Price and Aisha but with one little change.

"Yeah, I'm here. So with Price dead all that is left is Sharp and this mystery deal with this Syndicate."

"I have been hearin' about the Rollerz asking about very specific rides." Troy added. "And lately they've been gettin' more pissy about it."

"They're getting worried." Dex said. "With the loss of Price however… it's only matter of time. Sharp can't keep the boys in line. He stays at his desk to much."

"Don't go underestimatin' Sharp." Julius said bringing everyone's attention to him. "He might not be able to lead a gang but that means nothing to a son of a bitch like him. He'll up their cut of the cash until the deal with Syndicate. That's all the Rollerz are to him, a way to get in with the big boys."

"That makes sense." Alex said leaning in. "Sharp doesn't strike me as small time. In the background maybe but never small time. So how do we end the deal?"

"I hate to sound like a Gat but why not just take Sharp out? He's the last leg the Rollerz are standing on. It's his money and his connections that are keeping them together." Dex said, he really wanted this whole gang war to be done and over with. Once that happened he planned on demanding a shit ton of cash from Julius and the starting his way into the corporate world.

"I agree…" Alex said causing a slight look of surprise from Dex. "… it's just like Dex said, Sharp dead and the Rollerz have no one else to rally behind." They all looked at Julius who just sighed as he looked down to the floor.

"Get the boys ready… tell them we're heading to the Sharp Mansion and ending this shit." Julius said before standing up and walking walk with Troy following behind.

"Thanks for that by the way." Dex said not looking at who he was talking to.

"It was the most sensible idea. So I hear you are getting out of the gang life too." Alex said as he took his glass of whisky off the coffee table in front of him. "Gat and Aisha are doing the same thing. And I get the feeling that Troy might have similar ideas. And we all know how Julius feels."

"So the only one left is you." Dex said looking down at the relaxing Alex who just smirked.

"Kinda… if Julius asks me to keep everything together after all this… I will. But even then... once the Rollerz are done I think the Saints are just about done too. I mean the Saints will still be the only gang in Stilwater but it won't be the same. At best they'll be like criminal peace keepers and at worst… basically the same but with a lot more coke."

"It's ironic isn't it… we made this gang to put a end to all the gang wars and we going to do that. Most gangs in this position would be overjoyed, but most of the leadership is planning to retire, and the only guy who's not is planning on only keeping it around to have a quiet life." Dex said before walking out of the room to get ready for the final act of the Saint's gang war.

"Life is funny that way I suppose." Alex said before taking a drink form his glass.

* * *

Julius was at his home getting his gear for the last fight the Saint would have before they took the city. It wasn't actually the last fight, he was sure that a few of the Rollerz would try to retaliate afterward but nothing the Saints couldn't handle easily.

He had just come back form a meeting with most of the boys at the church as he explained the battle plan and gave one last speech to get their spirits up. He also named Alex as his successor. The response was expected, the boys were overjoyed. Alex had become iconic to the rest of the Saints. Julius still had some worries but he was confident that out of the options he had Alex was the best choice. Troy wasn't for leading but he excelled as a second in command. Dex had grown cold to many in the Saints in the last few weeks. And Gat was retiring with Aisha, something he was very happy to hear about.

Julius himself didn't have many plans, he had thoughts on becoming a teacher at the local high school. Helping kids lead a better life than the gangs or soon… gang.

"So, you're Julius?" A voice said from behind Julius. He turned around with his pistol trained on the source of the sound and found a man standing in the shadows.

"How'd you get in here?" Julius said never dropping the barrel of his gun form the intruder.

"Through the front door. I must say as the leader of a gang you really should have invested in some better locks." The man stepped forward into the light. The first thing Julius saw was that his face was a train wreck. He must have been in a fire or something with the amount of damage his face had. The man was wearing a long lab coat but what caught Julius' attention after his face was the blue tie that hung from his neck.

"You with the Rollerz."

"No… not anymore. They served their purpose but now I think I'm done with Stilwater. But I can't leave the city without a new face." Julius relaxed a bit. This was likely the doctor the Rollerz had on their payroll and now he was wanting out.

"If you wanted help getting a new ID, you should have come to the church. The sister of one of my guys does wonders on the computer."

"Ah yes… Dana. She is savant on a keyboard."

"How did you…"

"But when I said I needed a new face… I meant that a bit more literally."

* * *

"Where is Julius?" Alex said as he tapped his foot in impatience. He, Troy, and Gat were sitting inside a small coffee shop just outside Rollerz territory. Outside in the parking lot were Dex and the rest of the main Saints force while three smaller groups were waiting on flanks of the Rollerz territory.

"Don't know… last I saw him he was giving a speech to the boys in the church." Troy answered, he was also worried, as Julius wouldn't skip out the final chapter in the gang war.

"Well do we need Julius, I hate to say we could wait but with our guys out there… it's only a matter of time before they figure we're making our move." Alex nodded to the massive group of guys wearing purple out side in the parking lot. "I mean he not being here won't effect the outcome. We out number them four to one, our hardware is better, our boys are hardened fighters to the suburban kids the Rollerz is made up of. And then we got a secret weapon." They all nodded and smiled at the thought of their secret weapon. A helicopter Samson had fixed up with all the guns he could and was currently waiting for their call to rain down lead hell on the Shar mansion. Alex had not told Price their plan to destroy what would be his home with the death of his uncle.

"I agree with Alex, we let's get to killing already." Gat said as he stood up and walked out of the building.

"I sure hope he's doing okay." Troy mumbled as he followed Gat leaving Alex to pay for the coffee.

* * *

Julius woke up unable to move. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in some warehouse turned laboratory. And he was strapped down to some kind of metal table.

"I see you have awoken." He heard the man who kidnapped him speak. "I do want you to know that I'm sorry for this. But things are moving faster than I expected. And plans need to keep up with developing circumstances." He said as he came into view, pushing a cart that held a glass box. But it was what was inside the box that freaked Julius out. "Do you like it?" The man asked as he noticed where Julius was staring. "It is my finest creation to date." It was a squiggling mass on tentacles with one large eye in the middle of two large tendrils that made up its main body. "It truly is a marvel of Blacklight engineering. Able to transfer the conscious of two people between each other perfectly. The amount of failures I went through to make the transfer flawless… upwards of the hundreds, thank Stilwater's ability to completely ignore the homeless." The man said as he placed the box between him and another table. Julius tried to protest but found that his mouth had been gaged. "I feel that you deserve to know just what landed you in this position… but I am pressed for time and can not afforded to tell this story." The man said as he laid down on the on table next to Julius. Automatic restrains clamped over the man's arms and legs. "Once again… I am sorry." He said before pressing the button in his hand. Two doors opened on the glass box directly in front of the two men heads.

The monster in the box wasted no time before extending its two tendrils out on to Julius' and the man's heads. A sharp pain cut through his head before he felt like he had taken the strongest acid in the world. He felt as if every nerve in his body was being sucked up through a straw and then spit out across the room into something else. Then nothing… he felt like he sobered up within a second. He heard the sound of clamps unlocking but they weren't his.

"Ah… I feel so much better." That was his voice but he hadn't said anything. He looked over to nothing to the right of him. To his horror he looked to his left and saw his body sitting up on the table he had been confined to. "I would need to perform some tests at a later date but I do believe that the transfer was a complete success." He said before walking over to the box that held the monster that had done this to him. "I thank you my prize but I'm afired that I can't leave you for him to find." With that the man that was using his body pressed on the small box a the top of the box. The smaller box rained down a quick acid bath that dissolved the creature down to a brown soup. "Don't worry… you won't be getting the same treatment."

* * *

Alex looked on and smiled at the sheer amount of carnage that was taking place. To say the Rollerz weren't going down without a fight was massively understating it. The Saints were inflicting casualties left and right but the Rollerz kept on fighting.

"Carlos… hand me the big one." Alex said to the Saint his sister recommended he take with him. The kid had been dutiful and a great little helper to Alex as Alex had taken to leading from just behind the fighting line. He was still able to get a few shots off.

'Here you go boss." The Saints had taken to calling him boss, he didn't mind. It was kinda true.

"Thank you…" Alex took the rocket launcher form Carlos and began aiming the weapon at the cluster of Rollerz cars that was acting as a bastion to the incoming Saints. "… and… three… two… fire!" The rocket shot forward hitting the small ring of cars, killing the morons that had huddled behind them. "Nice… okay Gat, you lead the charge to the mansion." Alex said into his earpiece. It was Dex's idea to have them so the leaders could keep in contact. Alex sat back down in the lawn chair he had set up in the flatbed of his car. "Ah look at that… maybe we won't need the…" Alex stopped the second he felt Ragland's light in the Hive Mind go out. "…no…no …No!" Alex panicked as he jumped out of the back, only giving the barest second for Carlos to escape the moving car's flatbed. Alex didn't even hear the shouts of worry and confusion form the Saints and threw off the earpiece when he heard Dex scream his demands of explanation. Alex drove through the streets not at all thinking of the safety of other people. Alex skidded into the small parking area for Ragland's lab. He kicked the door down only to find his worst fears come true. Alex fell to his knees as he stared up at the hanging body.

* * *

Author's Notes.

We are getting so close! Next chapter will finish the Saint's Row 1, it will be ten k words and bring us to the 100k word mark. Yay. I also want to make one thing clear, this story will not end at the end of Saint's Row 1 and I will make a whole other story for SR2. Each game I have set for 100k words each (excluding SR4) and then another 100k minimum for after SR3. My sequel Story will take place… far form the current setting. I have already left hints in this story as to where that will be.

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Dracomancer1- thank you and my AN might answer a mix up you might have had.

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	19. Salt the Earth

It had to be raining. It was such a cliché thing for a funeral. Alex stood over the grave of his friend and ally. Bradley Ragland. In the end Alex and Dana had buried the body in Stilwater, Ragland had been born in New York and so sending him back wasn't a option to be buried there. Never mind the fact Alex had infected him with a strain of Blacklight.

The funeral had been very small. Just Alex, Dana, Gat, Luz, Price, and even Dex had showed up. Alex kept the whole thing classy like he would have liked, personally Alex wanted people to be happy and having fun at his own funeral but Ragland was like him.

Alex found the suicide note on Ragland's workbench. He simply… had enough. Since the very beginning of all this, the very idea of what Blacklight could had amazed him but he only knew the truth of it all when he was infected himself. It caused something in him to click, he could no longer look at Blacklight the same way and when he looked back on everything he had done with Blacklight he just knew that the only way he could do to atone was to end everything. He didn't blame Alex, no he praised him. Both because he opened his eyes to the truth of Blacklight by infecting him but Ragland still felt he was the best person to be the embodiment of Blacklight.

The words Ragland used… Alex knew he meant them as praise but to Alex he felt like damnation. It was him, he caused Ragland to give up. He was the reason why he was no longer alive. But even worse was that Ragland still thought Alex was the person to be on top of the Blacklight hive. Him, someone who could be accurately be described as the scum of human society.

"Alex… it's been hours since the funeral." He didn't look back, Dana had taken the role of watching over Alex. Just to make sure he didn't do anything to crazy.

"He thought that I was the best person to have this power…" Alex said looking down at his hands. 'And what do I do with it… I just at like a child."

"Remember when I said you were changing… while I think it was for the better. That's what Ragland meant too. Before you had this… you were alone. You pushed everyone out and tried to ruin people's opinion of you before they had a chance to meet you. You were a real asshole."

"Okay I get it… your point?"

"Just like that, but since coming to Stilwater and you joining the Saints. You've started returning to the brother I knew. You laugh, you joke around… you still kill a lot of people but the people in this city kinda deserve it. Ragland saw this… but he also saw how you loved this thing your building. This Hive and the Saints. And how you'd do anything to protect them and help them. That's what he meant by you're the best person to have this power." Dana finished her speech and began walking away leaving Alex to continue to stare at the grave.

* * *

"Is he doing any better?" Gat asked as Dana walked into the Vila living room where every major member of the hive stood. All of them still wearing their black centered clothes.

"I think so… he's still staring at the tombstone." She said before sitting down in a chair. "But I don't think he's going to go all Frankenstein on us."

"He is strong… he won't break over this." Mileena said from her own spot, all of the eyes in the room turned to her making her feel a tad uncomfortable.

"Who the fuck are you anyways?" Gat voiced the group's thoughts.

"I am Mileena, a former operative of the Illuminati Proto-Novus tracker squads. Alex bought me from them with his silence to Blackwatch that the main branch of the Illuminati knows of his survival." Luz's eyes widened at the idea that she had another slave to play with. "I am a beta, you are but the Alpha's plaything." Mileena hissed.

"How dare you!" Luz yelled standing up. "We are in love… stop laughing!" Luz said to the room. They all pushed down their laughter, some more than others.

"Whatever…" Gat chuckled. "… have any of you guys seen Julius?" Gat asked as he got up and walked over to the kitchen to get a drink. "The boys are happy we're on top now but at the same time their getting worried."

"Maybe he's already quit." Dana said not really caring all that much.

"Nah…" Gat answered as he closed the fridge door. "He would at least hang around the Row a bit. The guy still lives there. And where else would he go?"

* * *

"Hong Kong… no… Somalia… perhaps…" Ragland went over various travel pamphlets. He still had Julius' body and face. He had performed all the tests and the transfer had not hindered his intellect. Now that he knew that he could potentially do it again. He looked back at himself in the mirror. "No… I think this look works for me." Ragland turned back to his travel plans before turning to the sound of hard knocks on his door. It wasn't his door but Julius' but he was using the man's place until his business in Stilwater was concluded. "Yes I'm coming." Ragland didn't have time to open the door before it was kicked down. For a second he thought Alex had found him but instead it was a SWAT team.

"Julius Little, you are under arrest for multiple counts of racketeering and extortion!" One of the officers yelled out as another slammed Ragland down on to the floor. Ragland just went with the officers not even putting up a fight. This was not a outcome he had foreseen but Alex still saw Julius as his leader, he would save him not knowing who he was saving and then he would continue his plans.

* * *

Alex continued to stare at Ragland's grave. It had been a few days now. He had been drag the first day by Gat and Victor back the Vila but he returned the next day. He hadn't needed to be dragged back as he returned when his sister showed up.

He knew that everyone was getting increasingly worried about his mental health and he could tell that he was dwelling too much on what Ragland had said and how he treated the man in his last days but he didn't care. He felt awful even with the memories of sevreal psychologists in his head trying various different approaches to help him.

"So this is that Rollerz doctor." Alex turned his head to see Lin standing next to him. Now wearing a large purple sweatshirt and baggy jeans.

"Nice to see you out of that blue." Alex said before turning back to the grave.

"Yeah… sucks that I couldn't kill that bastard Sharp myself."

"I heard Johnny did it himself… I don't know if he begged but I like to think he did."

"He probably tried to pay Gat off… that would have pissed Gat off even more. I heard what happened to the Doctor, thought I should pay my respects to the man that saved my life." Lin held out a bottle of hard liquor. "Was he a drinker?"

"Nah… and he wasn't a Rollerz." Alex said as he pushed the bottle down. "Just worked for them, he never wanted to come here. But he wanted to follow me so… here he came."

"Sounds like the two of you were close."

"Yeah. Well… I wouldn't say we were friends. Colleagues and partners maybe but I wouldn't say friends. No, friends means we had common interests beyond our mutual work. There was respect but I don't think friendship." The two continued to stand at the grave until a man they didn't recognize laid some flowers at the head of the tombstone.

"I'm a to assume you are the person known as Alex, the hidden weapon of the Third Street Saints?" Alex looked the man over, he was wearing a suit, one that he had used for many years so he didn't make enough to afforded new suits. The smell coming off him was a mix of public building and generic soap. His form was composed and confidant, he knew how to handle himself with dangerous people. This man was a cop, an honest cop and one that had been one for many years. And the wedding ring on his hand meant that he might have a family.

"Yes, can you please get to whatever threat city hall has for me." Alex said causally, without his own threat or danger. He wasn't in the mood to make a new widow. He had a small moment of shock but he rained it in quickly. The wheels of Alex's mind already started turning. This man was good, underappreciated, and might have a family. To the next of him he could sense Lin getting antsy, her body started shifting to a readier stance for a firefight and her eyes were trained on the man likely looking for any sign of aggression.

"I've been told to inform you that Julius Little has been arrested…" The man pulled out his gun at Lin doing the same. Alex just continued to stare at the grave, unresponsive to the news and two people pulling their guns on each other.

"Lin… please put you piece away." Alex said completely devoid of anger but it was still a tone that one did not say no to. Lin looked at Alex with a look of shock before lowering her gun. "You were saying?" Alex said looking back to the officer with cold menacing eyes. He didn't like people pulling their gun on his fiends but since it was Lin that did so first and the man had caught Alex's eye he still had his insides on the inside.

"Sure…" He said as he put his weapon down. "… I was told that should you want to change this… call this number." The man handed Alex a blank card with a black and bold number. Alex could tell that the man was currently uncomfortable with doing whosever number's this was' dirty work.

"Thanks… you can go now." The man might have been able to hide his fear and stress all through the exchange of words but he couldn't hide his shock that he was going to walk away unharmed. The man nodded and began walking away. Alex didn't watch the leave, he had already marked him in the Hive Mind as a person of interest. Every time someone in the Hive would see him, Alex would know where and when.

"Why did you just let him go?"

"Why kill him? Don't shoot the messenger, words to remember. So, Julius in jail… odd." Alex looked down at the number on the card. "Why now… why now that we've won are those in public office going after us."

"Maybe its because we're the only one left?"

"That's probably why they've waited until the gang war was over but why days after we won and not later. It would be so much easier to make a case if they waited, they could collect more evidence." Alex pulled out his phone and called the number. It rung for a bit before someone answered.

"This is chief Monroe, I assume that this is the Saint called Alex on the line?'

"Yeah, what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Don't be smart with me. Now that you and the Saints are the only game in town, we have some business to go over. To start, you can show that the Saints are willing to play ball, there's an election coming up and I want one of the candidates off the ballot. Marshall Winslow is currently in his campaign bus… and that bus has a appointment with the north bound. Park that bus on the train tracks tonight or Julius' body will be in the river in the morning." At that Monroe hung up.

"So… what did he say?" Lin asked.

"Kill Winslow, and Julius doesn't die."

"That's it… seems pretty easy."

"Except it's not. First off, he said Julius wouldn't end up dead if I did this, not we'd get him back. Second, I've been keeping up with Stilwater politics… Winslow is probably the only Saints Row friendly option on the ballot at the moment. Hughes has plans that don't include us, and while the current major doesn't help the Row all that much, he doesn't hurt it."

"So what should we do?"

"First off, we get Winslow into hiding. He will have to lay low until we kill Monroe."

"Kill Monroe?! You can't be serious!"

"I am, round up the boys and tell them to keep really quiet. No selling drugs, no pimping, no murdering, nothing. I want Saints Row clean as can be for the next few days."

"Alright… I don't now what your planning but you're the boss with Julius gone." Lin said before walking off to do as ordered. Alex returned his eyes to the grave.

"I really have to thank Monroe before I skull fuck him… he did get me out of my funk. Albeit with getting me angry."

* * *

"Alex wants us to do what?" One of the gathered Saints asked after Lin finished telling them to shut down all crime in the Row.

"You all going to tell him no?" Lin asked causing all of them to back down instantly. No one wanted to piss off Alex, even more so after they had heard he was really moody after the death of Ragland. "That's what I thought, now go tell everyone that for the next few days, the Row is clean." A few grumbled but did as they were told.

"So, what happened to make Alex do this?" Dex said as he and Troy walked over to Lin.

"Monroe arrested Julius and now that asshole is holdin' him hostage until we kill Winslow."

"What?" The two men asked together.

"And what is Alex plannin' on doing?" Troy asked.

"He's going to hide Winslow and stage his death. And then he's going to kill Monroe. I don't know making the Row clean has to do with all this but I'm not going to say no to him when he's all murdery." Lin said leaving the two guy alone.

"Damn… never thought I'd see Alex take such… ugh!" Troy grunted as Dex slammed him to wall.

"You're going to tell your boss to let Julius go right now." Dex demanded, when he first gained his Blacklight enhanced senses, it took him a hour to figure out Troy was an undercover cop. He didn't care because he had already decided to leave the Saints in the dust. He knew that Troy would leave Julius out of any arrest list he made, Troy respected the man far too much and Troy didn't have enough on Dex to do anything to him. Nothing solid anyways.

"What are you talking about?" Tory said as he tried to fight back but while Dex's strain didn't give him super human strength it did improve his body to the height of human possibility.

"You're a fucking cop, and I normally don't give a shit because it won't affect me once this is all done but now Julius is in trouble. So, you're going to talk to your boss and get him out." Dex said as he dropped Troy but it was still clear that he couldn't escape.

"You know I could arrest you now right."

"You can't do shit, the second you do that you're cover is blown and bye bye credit for takin' down the Saints." Dex correctly countered.

"Fine, first off I had no clue that Julius had been takin in. I also wasn't the guy that told where he lives." Dex knew he was telling the truth, both in that he knew he wasn't lying now and it was real shock when Lin told him. "And I don't have that much pull, if I ask that's it… IA will have a fuckin' field day with me."

"Then your boss is dead, if Julius isn't let out then Monroe is as good as dead. A station filled with cops won't stop the monster." Dex said walking away.

* * *

Alex tried hard not to laugh, it had been so easy. He didn't even need to kill the driver, and Winslow hadn't asked any questions. He just made a few faces as he wondered why they weren't going the normal route. He only yelled up to Alex ask what was going on when they stopped on the train tracks.

"Hey! just what do you think you're doing?" Winslow demanded as he walked up to the driver's seat. Alex just let out a small chuckle before throwing back a glass vile of a standard Serf strain. The virus crawled out of the broken glass and towards the only noninfected being in the bus. The man screamed as he ran to the back of the bus before the strain caught up to him and quickly infected him. Once he slumped over Alex walked over the man and checked his pulse. Alex then pulled out the dead body form the back room, in passing the man looked like Winslow but no one was going to take a closer look into if it was indeed Winslow.

At the sound of the train whistle Alex threw the real Winslow over his shoulder and walked out of the bus. Alex watched as the train collided with the bus and smiled, he did feel slightly better after watching that.

* * *

Monroe was on edge. He watched as they lowered what was supposed to be Winslow down into the grave. It would appear fishy if the police chief didn't make an appearance at the mayor's funeral. Everything felt off, he saw the body and it looked like what he thought Winslow would look like if crushed by a train but… it just didn't seem right.

And then there was the fact he felt like he was being watched constantly. Even at home and the station he felt like there were eyes watching him. The rumor that the Saints had a plant in the station didn't help his paranoia any.

But what weirded him out the most is that the day after he made the call to Alex, the Row went dead silent. Not even a noise complaint. It overnight had become the model of society.

Monroe refocused on the lowering casket. He needed to look like he was grieving which was strange because the man's mother and sister seemed to be lacking in that emotion. Sure they had cried a bit but not nearly as much as family should.

Just as Monroe walked up to drop a flower in the hole he heard the sound of a gun cocking behind his head.

"You really should have seen this coming." Alex said, he truly was disappointed.

"I did." At that serval of the guests revealed themselves as cops and pulled their guns on Alex.

"Yeah ahuh…" Alex pulled the trigger shocking the cops, sevreal of whom took steps forward to stop Alex but weren't able to do anything but watch as Monroe fell down into the hole. The cops were still in shock and didn't notice Alex walking over to Winslow's family. "Your son and brother will be back once I'm sure there isn't anymore threat on his life."

"God bless you young man, thank you for keeping my son safe and ridding the world of that horrid man." Winslow's elderly mother said as she shook Alex's hand.

"My pleasure, now I'm going to have to ask you to leave the area as I would hate to see you two hurt." The two women nodded and began walking away as the cops refocused their firearms on Alex.

"You are under arrest for the murder of police chief Richard Monroe!" One of them yelled. Alex just waited until the rest of the funeral guest had left the cemetery. With the snap of Alex's fingers, the sevreal infected cops turned on their counterparts. Alex sighed, this whole mess felt to easy.

* * *

Alex continued to feel on edge days later. It felt far too easy. Everything felt too easy. Killing off Monroe felt like a walk in the park, and in a way… it was. He walked through the cemetery and then killed a man and then basically walked out.

" _Maybe I should have expected this… I mean there is a difference between gangs and cops. Gangs' play by a much looser rule set than cops do_." Alex thought to himself as he relaxed on one of the pews in the church.

"Hey boss!" One of the Saints yelled over to him, he looked slightly out of breath. "I… saw… I saw Julius. He…"

"Breath." Alex said as he sat up.

"Thanks… ugh… I saw Julius leave the cops' station but when I went up to him he just pushed me off and walked on by."

"Really… you ain't new or something?"

"Nah… I've seen Julius before, he knows me."

"Strange… go tell the rest of the boys to be on the look out for him." Alex said as he stood. The Saint nodded and went off to do as told. Alex check the Hive if any of them saw them and to his increasing curiosity none of them had seen him. Alex was getting worried, he had expected Julius to become a bit closed off to the saints but not this quickly and to this degree. He had at least thought he would have had one last talk with the leaders of the Saints. Alex was taking out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone going off.

"Hello there young man, I am alderman Hughes. That was quite the message you sent at Winslow's funeral." The news that Winslow was still alive had yet to come out even in private circles. "And trust me, I heard it loud and clear. Now let me make one thing straight, it was Monroe's plan to strong arm the Saints. Personally I had always saw you and Julius and myself having a much healthier relationship. Now we've had a rocky start, yes… but we can fix that. I'm inviting you for a peace talk on my yacht." Hughes didn't even give Alex the chance to refuse and hung up.

"Fifty bucks this is a trap." Alex grumbled as he started walking out the church.

The yacht was easy enough to find, it was the only yacht with guys in suits around it. The second he was walking towards it the suits moved to get him. They had no idea how bad an idea it was to try and intimidate him. But Alex was still feeling not himself so he ignored the stupidity.

The suits walked him to the front of the yacht where the alderman was waiting. Alex had seen the man on the TV and billboards, clearly he had those mediums edit the size of his stomach and the amount of hair had left his head.

"Your guest is here Mr. Hughes." One of the suits said as the dropped Alex off.

"Thanks Steven, if you don't mind could you wait outside." The suit nodded and walked off with his buddy following. "I'm Richard Hughes, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Alex Mercer, I don't know if I feel the same."

"Well, it's nice to finally have a last name for the person who handed me the election. Mercer…" Hughes frowned as if he was in thought. "Mercer… hm… I feel like I know that name from somewhere but it matters not. I have to thank you for helping in the removal of mayor Winslow, there's no way I could have beaten him… god rest his soul." Alex just kept a stone face, he wasn't about to let it sip that Winslow was alive. "But you made the impossible happen and for that I thank you."

"I tend to have that effect on things around me." Alex shrugged.

"So it seems…" Hughes said as he moved to the small table with drinks. "… now if Winslow was the only one killed then guilt would have been casted towards me but thanks to your rather public execution of Monroe, it's become abundantly clear that these horrible crimes were perpetrated by the Third Street Saints."

"Yeah… an why is that important. We're a gang, we do shit like that all the time."

"But you see before you were doing it to each other, now you have done said shit to public figures. While before people criticized my Saint's Row urban renewal plan, it is now being lauded. See before you and your ilk came along… I was displacing poor people. Now I'm destroying a hotbed of gang activity." Hoghes said as he grabbed two glasses form the table. "What can I say… the public is fickle. Champagne?" Alex took the glass, if it was poisoned then it didn't matter as anything in there couldn't hurt him.

"You plan on turning Saints Row into a glass and steel playground for the rich and powerful?"

"Exactly, you are more perceptive than your background gives you credit for." Hughes chuckled. "But I have age on you, and as you get older you learn there are only two kinds of people in this word. Race, money, gender, none of this matters. At the end of the day your either a winner or a loser. Now the sad truth about our situation is that for me to be a winner, I have to level your neighborhood and salt the earth."

"I applaud the grand speech, very nice touch."

"Thank you, I mean it. I just thought it on the spot. Steven could you come over here. Now to finish my grand speech. Where was I… ah, salting the earth. Now I suppose I could try to bribe you off but really what's the point… I know you quite well and I know your loyalty to thhe Saints is far to strong of such things to happen." Alex looked around and saw he had been surrounded by suits.

"So, we're going with cutting out the middle man then."

"Precisely, I couldn't have better myself. Your going to die here son… but if it makes it even easier on you, you have a place in my acceptance speech, and after this meeting I plan to make it a tad bit bigger. So enjoy that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a party to…" Alex only heard two small beeps before the whole yacht exploded.

* * *

Ragland watched the yacht explode, he made sure to cover the bomb in Whitelight tissue. Thus making it invisible to Blacklight senses. Not only that but he had placed caches of Whitelight under the front deck, Alex wasn't escaping this one. Blackwatch were a bunch of fools, you didn't need nukes or even guns… just a confined space and water.

"So long Alex Mercer, Zeus, Alpha of the Hive. You were certainly the most worth of holding that place. One that shall be fought for be never held like you did." Ragland said as he walked away from the ledge over the bay. It wasn't that hard, he thought it was going to be hard watching Alex die but… it had turned out to be easier than killing the man who's body he now used. Ragland watched as people crowded around the ledge of the bay, shocked by the explosion and as he walked away there were already News crews coming to the scene.

* * *

Alex watched as the moon grew smaller and smaller. He was falling to the bottom of the Stilwater bay, he could feel the water working away at breaking down his cells wall by wall. He could also feel his body form a solid exoskeleton under his muscle but knew that was pointless, it wouldn't last for long. His body was expending Biomass to fast, he was drowning.

Everything was going crazy, his body desperately trying to save itself, his mind racing with ideas on just who might have done this, and his Hive was going crazy at the thought of losing him. Gat and Mileena were keeping most of them form freaking out in clearly obvious ways in the real world but even they were feeling panicked. Price was relatively calm, likely waiting to see how things were going to play out. Tanya was lashing out, trying every trick she could to regain control over her former slaves.

As the last of his skin dissolved away, his mind stopped trying to find someone to blame and begun turning inside. He couldn't believe how… utterly lost he had been this last year. he had done nothing with the power he had. Even before he moved to Stilwater he had no direction. All he wanted to do was live a quiet life doing whatever he wanted. If he was being honest… he still wanted that. But now he wanted more… he felt like he wanted to change lives for the better with the power he had. He had been doing that with the Saints and when he was doing that he felt… complete.

But it didn't mattered anymore, Alex closed his eyes as the water hit the still forming exoskeleton. He then felt something strange… his Blacklight began regrowing his tissue and flesh, they were massively malnourished but then nothing… he felt nothing. As he closed his eyes he felt nothing.

* * *

When he opened his eyes he knew he wasn't awake, he could feel his body but it felt disconnected. He was just floating around aimlessly in the absolute nothing.

"Hello…" Alex's voice echoed. "… am I dead? If this is hell then I guess it isn't that bad." Alex floated through the space for a little bit more. "Okay this is awful!" Alex screamed out for anything to hear him but all that came back was his own voice. "Someone… anyone… even Tanya… hell I'd take Greene over being uphf!" Alex then hit a wall of the empty void. When he touched the wall it turned slightly orange and red. He pushed forward expecting to be pushed back be instead his hand pushed the wall forward like it was a membrane. "Cool." Alex mumbled as he looked out of the wall, outside was a swirling mass of colors and it hurt his head. Then as he was looking around he thought he saw something, something like a bubble in the sea of colors. It looked like there was a small line reaching out to the bubble from his own prison.

Having nothing better to do he started moving himself over to where the line reached. Every now and then he would lose the bubble of light and he would take a little bit to find it but he eventually reached the tiny hole in the wall that connected his prison to the bubble.

"What is this…" Alex pulled on the hole and found that he could widen the size of the hole. But as he was exploring the most interesting thing he had found so far he was shocked by the monster that had appeared outside the wall. It was an nightmarish creature with teeth, horns, tentacles, and crab claws. It screeched at Alex, though it seemed unable to get to him through the wall. After Alex noticed this he began examining the monster. It could not exist naturally in nature nor did it look to be something Blacklight would make. Blacklight had something of a consistency with its creations. Eventually the monster left. But Alex still had questions, biggest of all where was he. He started thinking solely on that, it felt years he spent thinking on it. A few times more monsters would come by and try to scare him but each time he ignored them and each time they left.

He floated through the emptiness of the space he saw that a few of the Bubbles seemed to fly around his own bubble. And then it hit him. This was the Hivemind. He was consciously in the Hive Mind rather than the normal way of subconsciously.

"So it's likely I'm not dead… but then what are the those things out there." Alex said to himself as he looked at the latest monster to come near him, it was currently pressing its face and Alex used that term loosely against wall, it flicked its tongue across the wall. "Well Mileena said the Hive Mind exists in the Psychic plane and that there were predators there. They look the part." Alex scowled at the creature slobbering over what was essentially his mind in the Hive Mind. "If I'm in here… then I'm likely in a coma… great." Alex groaned.

* * *

Dana looked over her brother. He was currently strapped to a bed in medical wing of Stilwater's prison. She was expecting him to at some point sit up and try scare her but it wasn't happening. The only sound in the room was Luz's sobbing and the sounds of the machines keeping Alex alive.

It was three days after Hughes yacht exploded when they found Alex's body on the shore. He was alive but in a coma. Unfortunately it was the cops that found him. And then a day later Troy showed his true colors and started making arrests left and right. Dana was able to get out of it because she never joined the gang and there was no way they could prove that she did anything against the law. But Gat, Lin, Victor, and most of the other Saints were soon taken into custody. Price was still considered dead and Luz was ignored for the most part. Dex had made some kind of deal with the cops and was out in a few days. He had joined Dana for a small drink and made a silent nod of respect for Alex.

"You two have one hour before I need to escort you out." Troy said form behind Dana before walking out of the room. Dana had to make sevreal thinly veiled threats to Troy before he arranged this deal. And it wasn't hard for him to do so, Dana had been going through the E-mails between cops and apparently he was now the police's golden boy and was on the fast track to replacing Monroe. Dana kept an eye on Troy until he was out the door.

"Okay, you can come out now." The second Dana said this, one of the air vents opened and Mileena dropped down. "Was it hard to getting in?"

"Not at all, they have terrible security." Mileena said before looking to her Alpha, who was currently being cried on by Luz. "Does she have to be here, it isn't going to help either her or him?"

"I wasn't going to tell her no." Dana chuckled. "She's batshit crazy about him and in sevreal other ways too." Dana sighed, Luz had become… even more unstable in the wake of Alex slipping into his coma. "So your sure his not going to die?"

"No… his presence in the Hive Mind is stable if a bit odd. But I do not know when he's going to wake up. What about the fact his body is now devoid of Blacklight?" When Dana heard Alex had been taken in and that he was in a coma, after the joy of hearing he had not died passed. All that was left was a deep fear that they would discover Alex had Blacklight in him or worse the morons doing the examination would screw up and create a new outbreak. But then Troy showed up at the Vila, she had to thank Alex for purchasing through legal means otherwise she would be out on the streets for a few days. As Dana was the next of kin, Troy legally had to let her know what was happening to him. Something had happened, because Troy was calm and freaking out that Alex was some kind of viral monster. And when she got into the police's servers and located the medical report on Alex, everything on him was deeply strange.

He was completely normal, except for the fact his body was massively malnourished which was very weird considering Alex had eaten the weight of Stilwater in food over the last year. But no sign of Blacklight anywhere in his systems. They even checked his brain due to his coma. But what confused Dana even more was the fact he was still connected to the Hive Mind. Mileena had confirmed this and so did Price. So the rest of the Infected were still be managed by Gat Mileena. Gat tended to have more sway in the Hive Mind itself but when he got arrested and couldn't do much in the physical world Mileena stepped in. Every time one of the Infected started breaking away from the Hive Gat would threaten them in the Hive Mind while Mileena would pay them a visit in the real world. Tanya still made ever attack she could when she could but around the third day, Luz and Mileena had come to some sort of agreement and took the bitch to the basement. Dana had no interest in what went on down there but Tanya remained much more quiet and Luz Mileena had become the best of friends.

Price and Dex were the only other Virals that Dana knew about. Dex had disappeared after the fall of the Saints and his and her little drink together. But Price, he was very quiet, after Dana had hacked the deed of the Sharp Mansion back to a fake ID she made for him he left the Vila. He still kept in contact with her through the Internet, mostly asking how it worked. And Mileena through the Hive Mind, but that was mostly her just checking to see if he was going to try anything. He at some point had come to asking for those Rollerz Alex had infected, Mileena gave him the Infected as they didn't number that many. They hadn't been in the Saints long enough for Troy to prove they did anything and so almost all of them escaped the fate of the rest of the Saints. Mileena did tell Price that he couldn't Evolve any of them as that was the sole privilege of the Alpha and Alex was still the Alpha. Price responded to that by saying he didn't know how to Evolve in the first place and that until Alex flatlined for good he wasn't going to do anything that could possibly piss him off.

"I don't know." Dana answered. "The only people that really know anything about Blacklight are Alex and… Ragland." Dana sighed, she was still getting used to the fact Ragland ended his life. She wasn't as troubled by it as Alex was but she still felt terrible.

"What about Blackwatch?" Mileena said as an idea came to her mind.

"Go to Blackwatch to try and save Alex? Your joking right?"

"I'm not… before we came to Stilwater. Me and Heller's team stopped by a place called Olympus. It is where Blackwatch does all there research on the applications of Blacklight. We went under the cover of seeing if Blacklight had any Psychic applications which it does but we really went there to get as much information we could on Alex and Blacklight in general."

"Okay… and all of them still want to turn Alex into dust."

"Not all of them. I wasn't interested in what they had to say on Blacklight, a good thing I didn't or might have known to not get close to Alex. But I did listen to gossip and rumors while we were there."

"And what did you hear?"

"There is a child genius that seems to very much idolize Alex. He is prodigy in genetics and biochemistry."

"That sounds great but how the hell would we get him here?" Mileena shrugged. "Oh great, so we have Ales who's in a coma, Ragland who is dead, and some kid that see Alex as a super hero but is deep in a Blackwatch research base. Such great options."

* * *

Haga Atshushi looked out onto the floor of the Stilwater airport. The last few months had been very strange. First he had made few new break through's concerning a new organ that might be able to help humans enter into a form of suspended amination for long periods of time but then he was taken off the project. His job suddenly become more administrative, while that often was a good sign in that you were moving up the chain of command he didn't like it. He wanted to be in the labs, working on new and exciting advancements in human biology.

He looked down at the address he had been given by one of the Director's personal men. Four days ago he had been told that Zeus had been critically injured and that the only one that had correct attitude and ability to help Zeus was him. Why the Director wanted to help Zeus was beyond Atshushi, he had gotten the idea that the Dictator knew that Zeus wasn't the evil the rest of Blackwatch thought he was but he had yet to figure out why the Director thought that. Atshushi knew because he had studied Zeus' activities during the events in New York, ending with him saving the city from nuclear fire.

But now here he was in the city that held the being known as Zeus. He waded through the crowds, ignoring the sevreal security guards that thought he had lost his family. Morons, he had several degrees and he was still treated like a child. It had gotten better now that he had grown a bit into his age and those growth stimulators he developed for himself helped too.

As he stood out waiting for a taxi to stop for him he couldn't help but feel that this might be a trap. Blackwatch suddenly lost one of the heads of its promising research departments with no real explanation. It all felt off to him, like at any moment he was going to be arrested for betraying Blackwatch, that wouldn't be his actual charge but that is would be why he was being arrested. He was only here because the Director had said that he would take a personal interest in keeping him and his family safe if Blackwatch felt the need to carry out revenge for his supposed crime.

He soon stood in front of the door to the large Spanish Vila that held the address he had been given. He was surprised that Zeus had acquired such a palace. The gate had been open and he didn't see any guards so he assumed it would be safe to just go up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and there was a few seconds before a woman opened the door, her clothes looked like they had seen better days and there were clear bruising on her legs and arms.

"Yes?" She asked impatiently, the scowl on her face not the best first impression to a member of Zeus' family.

"I'm Haga Atshushi." He said with a slight bow that made the woman chuckle a bit. "I was sent to help the family of Zeus." He spoke clearly and directly, considering who he worked for he didn't want there to be any confusion on his intentions. The woman looked a bit confused for a moment before having a small look of realization and then smiled. It wasn't a friendly one either, no he had seen that look before. That was the smile of a predator.

"You're going to die kid, really soon too." She said before laughing and returning back into the house, leaving the door open for him to follow. "Mileena! Blackwatch has come calling." He really wished she hadn't said that.

"Um… no I'm not…" He wasn't able to finish his sentence before being slammed into the floor and then held in a choke hold. He could see his assailant but could tell it was female considering the way his body was reacting to her body pressing against his back. He really couldn't wait until his hormones settled down.

"Haga Atshushi… I remember you from Olympus… what are you doing here?" She said, he didn't recognize the voice and if she knew him from Blackwatch that raised even more questions. She gave him a bit of breathing room for him to answer.

"I was… sent… by the Director." He breathed in as much air as he could once the woman let him go after that. "Thank you."

"The Director sent you… as in thee Director? The most powerful Proto in all of history sent you to help Zeus?" The woman asked as she kept her foot on his back to keep him down.

"Yes, he doesn't think Zeus is the threat Blackwatch thinks he is." The woman stared down at him, her golden eyes were the only thing he could see of her face. There was a slight buzzing in his head and then a small spike in pain. But then she removed her foot and helped him up.

"We won't be able to get you access to Zeus right now." The woman said as she lead Atshushi through the front hall to the living room. "He is currently in jail, and in a coma, and he seems to have lost all of his Blacklight infected cells." The information was hitting his mind like one bullet to his head at a time. First when she said he was in jail, why was he still in jail when he could so easily get out. Then to hear that he was in a coma, Blacklight would have heled any damaged brain matter within hours. But then to hear that he had lost all of his infected cells, did that mean he was somehow cured of Blacklight. "We do know that he's still somehow infected as a whole as he has not yet left the Hive Mind." She said as she prepared a drink for herself at the small bar in the room.

"The Hive Mind, what's it like, are you all able to share thoughts or memories. Or maybe is it like a collective…" He stopped at the glare the woman gave him. "Sorry."

"Exactly how long are you able to help us?" She said still swirling the drink in her hand not taking a drink form it and thus revealing her face.

"I don't know… I wasn't told that."

"Why did you come here despite the great risks involved?"

"Well when the Director of the Illuminati tells you to do something you don't say no. Plus… Zeus represents what is possible for humanity. He is at the very height of evolution itself. And if he was the monster that Blackwatch says he is then I would be trying my hardest to put an end to him but I know that's not the case. If he was then why risk his life in saving New York from that nuke?" Mileena was about answer when Dana came running down the stairs with a worried look on her face.

"Hey guys… who are you… never mind. Luz! Tanya! Come in to the living room!" Dana yelled and soon everyone that lived in the Vila and Atshushi was standing in the living room. Dana turned the TV on and switched it over to the local news where the local TV anchor was talking to a man dressed in a clearly expensive suit and a very smug look on his face.

"… over come this tragic loss. Now alderman Hughes had his faults by policy making wasn't one of them. And his Saints Row plan is something Ultor can get behind." The man said, the smug look on his face never leaving.

"Now Dane, what about the people currently living in Saints Row? Aren't you worried about displacing a large population of people that simply can't afford to live in this new Saints Row?"

"Well as we have just learned from the recent arrests that much of that populous were in fact people that I think the rest of the public would very much like to see behind bars. You have people like Johnny Gat and Victor Rodriguez living there. Truth be told, I see it like the old saying goes, you have to break a few eggs before you can make an omelet." At that Dana muted the

"I've been going through Ultor's systems and found that they plan on taking over Hughes' plans for Saints Row, only they plan to give it a corporate credit line in addition to the funds from the government. They are going to bulldoze the Row and make it a one percenter playground." Dana then focused on the new comer. "Who the fuck are you?"

* * *

"I'm so bored!" Alex yelled out not that anyone could hear him. "Hell! This! Is! Hell! Forget eternal torment! This is way worse than anything hell could think up." Alex spun around, he had figured out how move through the empty space but after he did that. "I have nothing! Fuck! I's be happy if on one of those things found their way in here!" Alex then began to cry. "This isn't fun… I want to go back home." Alex is not having a good time. "No Shit!"

* * *

Ragland moved through the dirt streets of the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu. He had decided on this location for his new life due to the abundance of test subjects that would not be missed. If he took someone off the street, any number of explanations could be given for their disappearance. There was also an great quantity of illegal goods and contraband he could access.

At the moment he was using the cash that he found in Julius' place which he had counted to last him about two more months. Plenty of time establish a reputation among the local underworld as a doctor that charged fairly and didn't ask questions.

"You wanted me to be a back-alley doctor Alex." Ragland mumbled to himself. It was still a bit of a disconnect to hear Julius' voice instead of his own. He moved out of the street and down the alley to the small shack that he had gotten for himself. As he was walking he noticed five men come out of the shadows. They slowly surrounded him until he stopped walking.

"You hand cash over now." The largest said in broken English. It was Ragland's teeth, they were far too nice and white and it instantly marked him as a foreigner to the locals. Ragland just chuckled.

"I'm sorry…" Ragland said in perfect Somali. "But you should have tried this in about three months… then you would have lived long enough to make for good test subjects." The muggers looked slightly confused before a sharp whistle sound shot through the air and them slumped over dead. Blood bursting from their necks. "Good Fenrir." Ragland cooed as he petted the slim snake like viral creature that coiled lovingly around Ragland's arm.

It had been so fast that even Ragland had lost track of the being when it left his tattered lab coat. It was one of his more recent creations, it had a long thin body, thirteen feet when it fully extended, six wiggling tendrils near the head that it used to pick up food up to its pit of teeth it had for a mouth, and above its mouth were four bright yellow eyes. It was highly protective of the first organic being it saw upon birth and would never leave the person's side, often coiling around their body under clothes, waiting until they were in danger. He had gone with Norse mythology for naming his creations as Blackwatch had named Alex Zeus and various other Blacklight connected creatures with names form the Greek mythos. Ragland stepped over the dead body in front of him and continued to his… he would not call it a home.

* * *

Gat sat back in his new bed. He had been given a quick trial. The amount of evidence the cops had surprised gat but that was what happened when you had a rat like Troy. He heard in the yard that Dex had wormed hi sway out of jail time and they had yet to catch Julius. Victor and him had stayed away from each other, he mostly stayed with the other Latino inmates while he stuck around the former Saints. They both shared a nod of acknowledgment when they fist saw each other but nothing after that.

Death Row wasn't that bad, the food was shit but he was used to shit food. The beds were okay if a bit stiff. He got his own cell after the last guy tried to shank him in his sleep, boy was he surprised to find that Gat didn't give a shit if he got stabbed. He got his own cell after they hosed the guy off the wall.

Gat turned in his bed, the only thing that made this whole thing suck was the lack of Aisha next to him. He was just about to hang up his flags, Troy knew he was going to retire and the bastard still ratted him out.

"Gat, time for dinner." One of the guards said as he opened the door behind him were two men in riot gear with stun batons, it was so far the only way they had found that kept Gat down. Gat had learned the hard way that high voltage could still really hurt Viral Beings. He could feel Alex… he could see his slightly dimed light in the Hive Mind.

"Yeah yeah…" Gat mumbled as he rolled off the top bunk. He landed on his feet and walked out of the cell.

'What are you smiling about?" The guard asked as Gat gave him a smirk.

"Just a sun shinny day." Gat joked before walking down the hall with the two roit gear guards following him.

"That guy still gives me the creeps." The guard mumbled to himself as he followed Gat. They soon reached the mess hall where Gat was forcefully sat down at a empty table. Another guard had come over to place a trey of food in front of him. "Eat up." Gat took the spoon provided, they weren't about to give him sharp objects. It really didn't sense he could make very sharp objects out of his arms. Gat looked over the mess hall, a few tables worth of prisoners were glaring at him. A few others nodded his way. Gat continued to eat the slop that they considered to be only worthy of consumption by criminals.

" _Jokes on them… I've almost figured out how to change my taste buds to make this shit taste like Freckle Bitch's._ " Gat thought happily. He continued to watch the mess hall and its inhabitances.

* * *

"And the last piece of the plan is… the construction of a Blacklight lab?" Luz said as she sat at the table with Dana, Mileena, the Blackwatch researcher everyone now knew was called Haga Atshushi, and Price.

"With Ragland gone we need someone else to work on Blacklight while Alex leads. We have that now." Dana nodded to Atshushi. "But now need somewhere to do this, I've gone over the plans Ultor has for the Row. And with a bit of extra funding and a few changes to their plans I think we can pull it off. Ultor will build a state of the art lab for us and not even know they did. Ragland left records, notes, and viles of Blacklight for us."

"That was the last item on the list." Luz said as she put the piece of paper she had been holding down. For the last three days they had been working on a plan for the time until Alex woke up. Which included various plans to try and wake Alex up if he stayed in the coma for more than a decade.

"When Alex eventually wakes up, everything will be ready for him to retake Stilwater and this time for good." Dana finished the meeting as she sat back.

* * *

Author's notes

And here we are people! 100k words. Now I'm sorry to say that this will be the last of updates for a long time. I have done the stupid thing and posted eight stories, all of them need my attention. My new update system is that I rotate between three stories and every time one reaches a new 100k I take it out of the rotation and put a different one in. If you want to talk about the story then PM me but good bye for now but I shall return! This is my favorite story and I will never leave it.

Reviews

Rmarcano321- PM

Dracomancer1- Well I thank you for enjoying Ragland and I will miss you, until I return! Thank you for the support.


	20. Guess Who's Back Bitch

"You'll never guess who's awake."

"Your shitting me."

"Come see for yourself."

"Shit, how long has it been.."

"Five fuckin' years to long if you ask me."

"Can't believe it's been that long."

"Time flies when you're watching someone breathe through a tube."

"How's the family?"

"My wife is cheating on me with a Ultor exec, and uh, my daughter sits in her room listening to Aisha and Beyoncé albums all day."

"For a dead woman she sure releases a lot of records…"

"No shit."

"God that was a hell of a year… alderman Hughes, Aisha, Chief Monroe…"

"All murdered by that asshole who's been sitting in intensive care on tax payers' money."

"Troy sad he wouldn't pull the plug."

"Because his sister would ruin him, you call him?"

"Couldn't get through… the press has been mobbing him with phone calls and clogging his e-mail."

"Oh about the…"

"Yup."

"I forgot that was today… he is not going to be happy about that."

"You should pay more attention."

"Fuck off. How's the patient?"

"Seeing how's there still breathing after being caught in a massive explosion… I'd say pretty good."

"Coming through!"

"What happened?"

"Shanking…"

"Put him over there! Sorry about that."

"Has he said anything yet."

"A few grumbles of pain but not recently. But he might once I take the bandages off." But as the nurse went to take the wrappings off her wrist was grabbed by the patient, tightly.

"I think I'm just fine." His voice was gruff but it was all that was needed. The nearby prison guard quickly pulled out his gun and shot his former fellow guard in the head followed by shooting the two nurses and then the nearby doctor. The guard then walked over to his Alpha and handed him a knife to cut open the wrappings. "Very good, wasn't expecting this so soon… but um… did you have to kill them?"

"Uh…" The guard was confused as to what his Alpha meant.

"It's just… I have been so lonely for the past five years! I could have had fun with them." Alex complained as he cut open the bandages that covered his face. "Do you have any idea what I have lived through in that hell! To be alone for five fuckin' years with only…" Alex stopped once he realized it was pointless to complain to the Infected Serf. His kind were perfect yes men and didn't make for good conversation for the Alpha he was. "Whatever…" Alex grumbled as he jumped out of the bed. But he then felt… something… something very wrong. Alex looked down at his hand, then took the knife he had in his other hand and pricked his thumb. "That's new…" Alex mumbled as he watched the blood drip down, the wound not closing in seconds. "You." Alex turned to the Infected Serf. "Go cover for me."

"Yes Alpha." The guard quickly walked out of the infirmary to keep prying eyes away.

Alex Mercer, Alpha of the Black Light Hive, Boss of the Third Street Saints, and top badass in Stilwater. This was a man that five years ago brought a newly formed gang from its hood to conquer the city of Stilwater. He was evolution incarnate, a biological super being… or at least he was supposed to be.

"The fuck is going on?" Alex asked himself but then turned to the only other still alive inhabitant in the room. Alex walked over and pulled back the sheet to find Carlos laying back on the bed.

"Hey boss." Carlos said slightly nervously. He shivered under Alex's stare and began to really worry as Alex came closer. "Listen… I know that I…" Carlos stopped talking once he found Alex hugging him.

"Dude… I'm so happy to see you." Carlos couldn't even begin to understand what was happening to him. "Not yet…"

"…"

"Okay…" Alex finally and much to Carlos' relief he moved back. Alex then once again shocked Carlos by almost stabbing his bits with a knife. "Don't ever tell anyone I did that." That threat made Carlos so much more relived, Alex was still the badass he always was.

"No argument there."

"Good… now… where the fuck are we?"

"On a god damn island boss, but don't worry. Dana and the rest of us have cooked up a plan to get us the hell out of here."

"Good… good…" Alex said this but Carlos could tell that he was a million miles away right now. "But first…" And then with the snap of his fingers a air vent in the ceiling busted open. Carlos watched a Mileena dropped down from said air vent. Carlos was expecting Alex to say something sarcastic like the classic _took you long enough_ or something. But nope, almost instantly Alex went to her and began a very intense make out session. It was when Alex had begun to move second base that Carlos looked away. Everything he heard after that was increasingly uncomfortable to listen to given how close he was to it all.

"All right, enough of that Alex." Carlos was very happy to hear Dana's voice over the intercom in the infirmary. "We are on a clock here."

"Shut up Dana." Alex groaned as he pulled back. "I've been alone for about five fuckin' years, I want to enjoy my freedom a bit."

"Yes Dana, perhaps the plan can be set back a ten minutes or so?" Mileena asked as she did not like being interrupted like that.

"Ten minutes? I think you meant hour or two."

"Alex! You can fuck once you get to Stilwater and out of danger." That had caught Alex's full and slight divided attention.

"Why would I be in danger?"

"When you drowning after being blown he fuck up, your body responded in the only way that it could have to saved you. The Blacklight in your body replaced your cells with clean ones and retreated so far into your body that to put it bluntly made you nothing more than a normal human." There was a still air that followed that statement. Alex's was frozen still, his mind trying to wrap itself around the information that for the first time in a long time… it felt like a long time, he could be killed and hurt and it would count this time. "Alex."

"Huh… oh yeah… that's not good." Alex said still half dazed from the revelation that he was now human. Then his brain started going over all the fun ways he could be killed and then one of those possibilities he notices was currently in still in his arms and hands. "You really want to kill me right now don't you?" Alex asked Mileena.

"Yes… very much so." Even though he had been turned human for the time being, Alex knew the ins and outs of Viral instincts, and one of the biggest ones was the strongest must always be on top. As such, it is the duty of ever Beta to be loyal… until it is clear that their Alpha is no longer the stronger of the two. Then the only option is the three choices of those that find themselves fighting a Viral, Submit, Consumed, or Eliminated.

"But you're not… and you didn't while I was in that coma… why?" Alex was honestly confused, he was grateful that she didn't try to kill him but the why was very important. It takes a great amount of will power to fight one's instincts, and to do it for five years meant that it had to be a good reason.

"You are my Alpha, it is my duty to protect you." That was a lie. For so many reasons. First off, the statement itself, he is her Alpha, what follows should be it is my duty to kill you at the first sign that I could kill you. Secondly, from what little time Alex had with her, he could tell she wasn't the type to but duty before her own desires. Hers and His often aliened and that's why she didn't complain about becoming a Viral but still, it was her wants before anyone else's, that was the kind of woman she was. And thirdly, Alex still had the memories of experts in his mind, they weren't as vivid or readily available but they were still there. So, he knew what she was thinking… or at the very least that her words didn't align with what was going on in her head.

"Dana…" Alex said ignoring Mileena for the moment. "… Carlos says I'm on an island… does that mean I can just swim to shore?"

"Dumbass… you don't have infinite stamina anymore. You'd drown before you get to dry land."

"Fuck you, I have plenty stamina. Enough for… oh fuck it I missed this so fuckin' much!" Alex called out happy that he could argue with his sister again. "So, what's the plan?"

"We have Infected Serfs already in the guards, their job is to cut the lines of communication that aren't based on the internet. We have a boat all set up for you three down by the docks, the trick is… you are going to have fight your way through."

"Mileena!" Alex called out as he turned around to face his beta. "You are on meat shield duty for your Alpha. Carlos!" Alex turned away from his less then pleased Beta to his fellow Saints member. "You are on the duty of killing everything that gets in our way." Ale walked over to the dead prison guard and picked up his gun and threw it to Carlos. "Alright people, the mission is get me the hell off this rock so I can figure out how to become an immortal killing machine again." They all walked toward the maintenance hall… that was filled with guards.

"Freeze!"

"Escaped prisoners!"

"Down on the grou…" That last one was quickly killed by Carlos. The Guards quickly began swarming the hall and calling for reinforcements. Carlos stood behind whatever cover he could find while Mileena who brought her own weapon stood in the middle of the hall soaking up the bullets for the less than immortal members of the group. The three of them were able to make it down the hall but then the guards began to come around them through the infirmary where the escapees came from.

"Damn it! They got smarter while I was asleep." Alex mumbled to himself as he fired a shotgun that he had _found_ on a dead guard. He then heard yelling coming from the other side of the door next to him. "Shit…" Alex quickly looked back to Mileena who was still handling the guards that blocked their exit route. He then looked around for anything that might be of use… and then he saw a crowbar hanging from a rail. "Perfect." Alex took the crowbar and the second a guard came running through the side door and swung the bar down into the skull of the unexpecting guard. Alex quickly pulled his new close combat weapon out of the guard's head and swung it into the gut of the next guard and then finished her off with the end of the bar in her throat. The guard fell to the ground on top of the other dead as Alex flipped the crowbar in the air happy with the temporary replacement for his claws.

"How much farther to the exit?!" Carlos called back to the others after finishing off another guard.

"Just… about… there… and… there are all dead." Alex said once he finished off his last bit of ammo. "Okay, time to get the fuck…" Alex stared as he kicked the door to the outside open. "… out… of… here, oh shit." The sight of an army of guards between them and the docks did not help his confidence in their plan.

"Sooo… any idea of how to get to the boats without getting full of holes?" Carlos said ducking under cover as a hail of bullets began flying at them. Alex then turned to Mileena and gave a quick nod. Mileena understood the meaning and stood up from her cover. Carlos' eye's widened at the sight of her Blacklight claws forming across her arms. Unlike Alex's claws, hers were slim and the black tendrils that covered her arms tightly constricted with small bio-luminescent strands of purple.

The Blacklight Beta jumped into the air and with a small crash, landed on one of the police cars in the middle of the guard filled parking lot. There was a stop in the firing of firearms as every one watched in horror as the Evolved stepped off the burning wreak of a car. Then the screams came, everyone began running for their lives once they saw the monster cut down guard after guard. They never noticed the fact two men were calmly walking through the prison grounds to the docks.

"Boss… is it wrong that I find her scarier than you?"

"Nope… not at all." Alex didn't say the reason for that was she could kill you with her mind. "We're almost there, oh if Dana thought I could eat and whore before she has another thing coming." Alex chuckled darkly as he began making plans for his return to Stilwater. All of them involving lots of Booze, Food, Whores, Drugs, and every other Vice he could think of. As the two men approached the docks the sounds of gunfire returned erratically, likely there were a few moments in which someone thought they had either a chance at killing the monster or were in a crazed state induced by fear. Maybe a few of them were just a guard seeing no way out of a painful death and just decided to bite his own gun instead. But about ten minutes after the last of the shots were heard, Mileena returned to the two men as they prepped their escape boat for cast off. "Enjoy yourself?"

"Immensely." Mileena responded she hopped on the boat.

"Good, now help us get the fuck off this island so I can feel immensely good through various ways." Alex said as he threw the key to the boat to his Beta and then walked over to Carlos. "Dana did a good job keeping the skies clear."

"Yeah… she's amazing." Carlos said absentmindedly as he continued to check the boat for any tracers. Alex watched as Carlos caught what he had said and then began try to work up the courage to talk to Alex. The Saints boss had a pretty good idea what it was, and he was going to enjoy the next part. "Uh… boss, there's something I wanted to… um… ask you. But then you got blown up and then…"

"You had to wait five years." Alex chuckled.

"Yeah… but, I want to ask you…" Carlos looked between himself and Alex and then grabbed a nearby crate and took off the top to use as a makeshift shield. "Can I ask out your sister?" Carlos asked from behind his shield. There was pause in any sound following that question. Only the sound of the waves below filling the air.

"Let me tell you a story Carlos." Alex began, Carlos was just happy that he wasn't trying to kill him. He had heard the rumors of what he did before he got his powers to the men that tried to get with his sister. "Once upon a time there was princess, she was loved by her family and was in their opinion the fairest maiden in all the lands. This opinion was not shared by the other princesses in other lands who called her but they were stuck up bitches so who cares. But those bitches made our fair princess feel awful about herself no matter how much her dashing brother and bumbling good natured father tried to tell her otherwise. But the princess would grow to lack much self-esteem and as such accepted the hands of jackass knights and princes that weren't good for her at all. These said jackasses didn't treat her right and were unfaithful, but she stayed with them due to her lack of self-worth, thinking that they were the best she could do. Then one day one jackass prince with the face of a ogre and dick size of a rat broke our princess heart, she tried for the first time in her life to stand up for herself. But the rat-dick prince fought back… and raped her." What stillness there was before, amplified in an extreme. Carlos was fearing that he was about to be either killed by Alex or Mileena who was putting out waves of hate and rage that Carlos could feel it in his bones. "After… the incident… rat-dick was found beaten and tortured in a alleyway a few days later. Not that the princess knew about who had done the deed. She had been too busy getting drunk and crying over both her heart break and the experience that followed. But! Do not fear, this tale has a happy ending… the princess was saved. Not by her dashing brother, nor by her moronic father, but by her best friend Rebeca who helped Dana… I'm done with the fairy tale framing thing… with bar hopping. They stayed out for a whole week end talking about how much they hated men and stuff… how men are such jerks and how they don't need no man to make them happy. Other things of that nature, and when two women go out drinking with that kind of mindset there is only three ways that will end. One! One of them goes home with jerk thinking he's different but he isn't while the other stays at the bar mumbling about how the other is a traitor to their gender. Two, they destroy a bar by whipping themselves into a man-hating frenzy. Or three… they end up discussing why they don't need men and somehow come to the conclusion that they _really_ don't need men for anything." Alex looked over to Carlos. "Guess which option Dana ended up taking."

"Uh…"

"You can ask Dana out, but she'll turn you down. Dana hates men… or more specifically she hates the idea of being with a man. She is of the opinion that she doesn't need a man for anything… anything." There was still the stupid look on Carlos' face. "Dana is gay."

"Oh! Really?"

"I think it's more that she's bi but since she has such horrible history with men that anything short of Jesus himself would not make her see another man in a romantic light."

"Oh… so…" Carlos mumbled as he slouched back to the rail. "I really thought we had something."

"Don't get yourself down…" Alex said as he patted the saddened Saint on the shoulder. "… there are plenty of nerdy girls out there that would be happy to jump on your dick." Alex chuckled and was going to continue with his teasing but stopped when the Row came into view. "Da fuck happened?" Alex said as he scanned the now changed Saints Row.

"Ultor…" Carlos said as he stood up. The sight of the new Row sobering him up from his sadness. "… After Hughes was killed in the bombing that took you out, Ultor came in and picked up the pieces. Now they're everywhere… on TV, on billboards, in stores, on every fuckin' ad on the internet… hell if you ever forget who Ultor is just look towards Saints Row and you'll see that fuckin' eye sore." Carlos motioned to the massive corporate headquarters of Ultor. It was a tall towering building with an angler design to it with four smaller towers surrounding it.

"What are talking about, it looks fuckin' cool…" Alex said and then began staring at the skyscraper. "I want it."

"Really… but… it…" Carlos tried to find a way to argue the point but Alex was the boss of the Saints… what was left of them. "Uh… boss I need to tell you something." Carlos said as they approached the nearest dock they could find that looked like it would ask to many question if any. "It's not just the Row that has changed in the last few years."

"What… who died? Please tell me that Nickelback hasn't died, I want to be the one to do that!"

"No boss, they're still around. But… the Saints… aren't." Carlos said as they stepped off the boat.

"Expected, No one was around that could've held them together."

"That's not the whole story. After you had bombed, Troy turned on us, turned out he was a cop. And everyone got put away. Then the Ronin, Sons of Samedi, and Brotherhood showed up and carved out Stilwater. Everyone that wasn't taken by Troy and the cops dropped their flags before they got killed."

"So who is left."

"Dana, Luz, him, me, and maybe Price." Mileena answered. "Everyone else is in prison. Lin is the only one of them all that will be getting out any time soon."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Alex chuckled. "But first… need new clothes… these are not going to cut it." And so after stealing a car, they went to get some new clothes for Alex and Carlos. Carlos kept to his normal jeans and white T. Alex went with dirty torn jeans, black combat boots, purple t-shirt, black and purple jersey vest with the number 713 on the back. "Okay… now that that is finished… beer."

"Wait, Dana said we need to meet up with her…" Carlos started but was stopped by Alex as he opened the door to the car while Mileena was already in not needing clothes.

"Nah uh… beer." Alex got in the car and quickly drove off leaving Carlos to return to Dana on his own if he wished. "I'm sure he can find his way." Alex chuckled to himself before looking over to his Beta. "Still feeling the need to kill me right now/"

"Yes."

"Good, that means I picked right." Alex said before making a hard turn left, cutting some poor driver off. "So how have things been in the Hive?"

"Tanya pushes her borders every now and then but this has become less of an issue once we finally broke her. She now finally understands her place… but… I do think if she was tested with the news of your weakness she would take the chance. Luz has been the most troublesome, she needs you. Very much so…" There was only the briefest hint of jealousy in Mileena's voice. Alex was the Alpha, all of the Evolved would act like this. The Alpha of the Hive would have first rights to any in the Hive in terms of breeding rights. And the those of the opposite sex would instinctually vi for the attention of the Alpha. Female Alpha, the males would fight for her attention. Male Alpha, the females of the Hive would throw themselves at him.

If there was one thing that helped keep most of his sanity while in that coma it was the fact he could work on discovering new inner workings of the Hive Mind and the instincts that came with the Evolved.

Alex had figured that he was never going to be the only Alpha, he would always be top Alpha, he didn't like that title but he would figure out a better one later. But there will come others. So while in the Hive Mind he figured out how Blacklight was forming the Evolved Hive relationship. No matter who was the Alpha, they had final say in all matters. Their word was law, and so long as they had the power to keep it that way and they treated their hive as family it would stay that way.

And the Beta's would be the ones to enforce these laws of the Hive to both under and over their station. It would be a Beta's job to be the will of the Alpha where the Alpha could not be. They would go to the Infected and other Evolved under the Hive and make sure they knew who was in charge. But at the same time they would watch their Alpha for weakness, and then dispose of them if they thought they could. He of course knew that his own situation was incredibly hypocritical of that ideal but Alex didn't care.

"What about Price?" That was one of the other things Alex had figured out in the coma. That there would be Evolved outside of the Alpha, Beta, and any other ranks he came up with. Likely he would make a Gamma rank under the Beta but Price wasn't that. He was outside Alex's core but he was still a part of his Hive. Alex had decided that these Evolved would make a type of Noble class within the Hive. Evolved without official rank but status above the Infected. He would make sure that their place would need to be earned and they wouldn't end up as fat greedy parasites with no purpose. No, he would make sure that the Noble Class in the Hive would be useful.

"He's doing well, rebuilt that mansion of his and is taking good care of the former Rollerz. All of them Infected, and under his control. They listen to me but differ to him. I'm pretty sure that if it came to a choice, they'd chose him." Alex didn't like the sound of that, the fact he was taking good care of his Infected was good but from the sound of it Price had more control than Alex did. Maybe it was because Mileena was just the Beta and not the Alpha. "He's running his own construction company, rebuilt most of the Row actually. But he has been quiet when it comes to the Saints and the Hive."

"He's happy with how things are, why rock the boat if everything is going well for you. What about these new players in Stilwater?" Alex said as he got out of the car, having arrived at his destination, TeeNay.

"The first that showed up was the Sons of Samedi, they cropped up after the Saints' fall hit the news. It must have caught someone's attention because all of a sudden we had a influx of people coming in from out of state and very likely, from out of the country. Then the Brotherhood came, but they were more like a response to the Sons. They are locals, big into trucks and robbery. The Ronin came recently, just in the last year, but they came with the backing of the Yakuza so they were able to get ahead quickly." Mileena explained as they entered the strip club.

"If you had to pick one, who would you say is our biggest threat." Alex said as they walked to the bar.

"Asking me, the Sons. There is something about them that puts me off. Something that feels like they are hiding something… not natural. But if you ask your sister it would be the Ronin, with the backing of the Yakuza they appear to be the ones with the most weight to throw around."

"I would not underestimate the locals. The people of Stilwater are crazy." Alex chuckled as he sat down at the bar. "Barry, can we get two beers." Alex called to the bartender and owner of the place.

"Alex! Back from the dead!" The man called out as he approached the two. "Sure, anything I can do for my Alpha and Beta." The man said as he handed them the two beers.

"So Barry, how has the family been to you." Alex said before taking a drink.

"Great, at first when you came it all felt so fucked up. But these last five years, best of my life. Every time something seems to go wrong, someone I never met comes in to save my ass. I mean I do the same for them but… it just feels nice to know that there will always be someone to help, no questions or charge."

"That is what family is for." Alex said before catching the face of his other Beta on the screen of one of the TVs. "Hey, could you turn that up." Alex pointed to the TV with Gat's face on it.

"… to be the trial of the century. A notorious member of the gang known as the Third Street Saints, Johnny Gat was arrested last year as part of a mass arrest of the gang led by then police officer Troy Bradshaw. In the following trial, Gat was convicted of a staggering three hundred eighty seven counts of 1st degree murder… promptly sending him to death row. After…"

"Hey Barry turn this shit off!" A slightly drunk man yelled out as he approached the bar. Barry looked over to his Alpha. Alex sighed and smashed a bottle over the drunk man's head. And then the three went back to watching the report on their Beta.

"In a few short moments we'll be allowed back in the courtroom and we'll find out if Mr. Gat will go home a happy man or a dead one. Back to you Jack."

"Hm… so Gat is in court today. I have good timing." Alex nodded to himself as he picked up another bottle of beer for the way to the courthouse.

"Hey! you just took out our…" The other Brotherhood member didn't get to finish before getting shot by Barry.

"I guess this place just became a No Brotherhood zone." Barry said as he returned the shotgun to under the bar.

"Someone will come to help clean this mess up." Alex said as he and Mileena began to head out.

"Someone always is."

* * *

"Mr. Gat, you've been convicted of over three hundred murders, do you really expect this appeal to work?" The bitch of a judge asked him, he really wasn't paying that much attention. This whole thing had been Lee's idea. And he was family so Gat went along with it. It wasn't like death row meant anything to him. If they sent him to the chair then at most it would do is knock him out on his ass. Lethal injection, he could take it and spit it out. Firing squad, like that would do anything. They could try hanging but Gat really didn't want to find out if that kind of shit got him off.

"I figure with the statute of limitations it really should be closer to two fifty." Gat joked even though he knew that there was no statute of limitation on murder.

"There's no statute of limitations for murder!"

"Why the fuck not?" He really wanted to know that answer.

"Watch yourself Mr. Gat." The bitch warned for no reason.

"Or what, you'll hold me contempt of court? You're already planning on giving me the chair, you think I give a shit about you not liking me? Fuck off…"

"I'm curious if you think your cavalier attitude when 2000 volts are running through your body." He was pretty damn sure he could. And he hoped to god that she would be there to see him do it.

"Oh yeah, And I'm curious if you can keep acting like a douche bag when I shove that gavel up your ass." That would most likely be the most action the old bitch had gotten in years.

"My Client would like that stricken from the record." Lee quickly called out. There was then a few gun shots outside of the room. Gat grinned, he could feel how it was.

"What was that?!" The Judge demanded, one of the guards pulled out his gun and moved to the door the shots came from. He walked up to the door but it came down with a kick and knocked him to the ground. The other guard moved to confront the intruder but quickly found a bladed claw to his face.

"Drop it." The wielder of the claw demanded and the guard complied, him and everyone in the room terrified of the woman with the bio-claw. Once the gun dropped to the ground it went off and ricocheted around the room.

"Any one hit need a lawyer?" Lee said quickly before returning to the ground. Mileena walked out of the way for Alex to enter the room for everyone to see.

"I'm back bitches." Alex announced as he entered into view of the room.

"Shit, about time your brunt ass woke up." Gat said as he pulled apart the cuffs on his hands.

"You doing good Johnny?" Alex said walking over with Mileena in tow.

"Yeah, was looking forward to the chair but I'm fuckin; great… why do I really want to murder your ass right now?"

"In short, I'm human and weak. Your Blacklight instincts are telling you to take my place as Alpha. But you're not… are you?"

"Fuck no, you're still the boss. But let's get the fuck out of here. I'm sure the both of us are looking forward to all the perks of not being behind bars."

"You bet… just consume some poor fool and we can walk right out of here."

"But where's the fun in that." Gat grinned, he was feeling the itch for killing, and if he couldn't kill Alex like he really wanted to, then he would settle for everyone in the courthouse.

"Gat, the longer we stay here the longer you and Aisha are apart." Alex knew Gat and knew just how to get him to focus off of killing people. With the one thing he loved more.

"Ooh yeah… let's get moving." Gat walked over to some unlucky bystander and quickly consumed him for his body. Everyone in the room gaged or just straight out throw up at the sight, but the worst was the judge actually passing out. "Ready." They all walked out of the room like nothing was the problem. It was only when they exited the building did guards look like they knew something had happened. And by the time anyone knew what happened in that room, the three Virals were already on the road. "Thanks for finally busting me out, Eesh would have been pissed if I got _executed_." Gat said with executed in air quotes.

"You still haven't told her."

"Nah man, things have been rough enough what with me on death row and her being on the Dl after faking her death but, ya know, we found a way to make it work out, with a lot of help from you sister. She hacked in to the systems and made it so we could get special visits."

"So you in jail for the full five years?"

"Yup, actually… its been… four years, eight months, and twenty one days."

"Not that you were counting." Mileena said from the back.

"Shut up, but it was weird… people inside were betting on how long I'd last… when I first busted guards were always tryin' to put me in the ground. They never could but it was the thought that counted. After Troy become chief of police it all stopped. Either he might have know it was pointless or he's for forgiving then the two of us." There was a bit of a quiet after that as Alex thought over that information.

"Did that protection cover all the Saints?"

"Yeah, well… all of the original Saints. The former Vice Kings and Carnales didn't get the same protection." Alex mulled thing in his over.

"Let's have a nice chat with Troy before we really start making plans okay."

"Sure thing boss. But Tory becoming Chief of Police ain't the only thing to happen. Julius is still missing. Ben King wrote a autobiography…"

"… don't worry, he lied about what happened in the end of the Vice Kings. It ended with him, Gat, and You storming the penthouse and killing Tanya in a last stand." Mileena answered Alex's slight worry.

"… anyways like I was sayin'… and Dex is a Ultor exec. Head of security if what I heard is true."

"At least he is using my little gift to him productively." Alex finished as the pulled up to Aisha's house. "You go see your girl, I'll come back in a few hours."

"You're the best man." Gat said with a quick fit bump and then quickly got out to see his girl.

"So… ten minutes or a few hours?"

* * *

Author's notes.

I have not abandoned this story, I never will.

Please leave a review and I will PM any questions anyone might have.


	21. We are Legion

Author's notes.

Firstly… yes I know this came out so quickly. Don't expect it to happen again. maybe once more as I am on a roll but again, don't expect this every time.

Second, if anyone would like to Beta this it would really help.

Okay, some people have disliked Alex getting the human treatment. This is perfectly fine, I personally don't care if you hate it or not so long as you have a valid reason. But I will explain how this works anyways. We all have cells, and those cells have what is called a cell membrane. That is the thing that keeps the stuff inside a cell… inside. A Evolved Blacklight being's own Cells have a weakened Cell Membrane to allow for rapid change and reformation. That is the explanation I am going with when it comes to how Blacklight shapeshifting works. But this has a draw back. Because the cell membrane is weaker, it can break down when completely submerged in any liquid. And when I say submerged I mean if Alex puts his hand in a bucket of water it will not dissolve, the rest of his body will continue to send replacement biomass to the hand to prevent it from dissolving. This does mean that Alex and any other Evolved will lose biomass quickly if they are in a liquid for long periods of time. IF the whole body is under, then the Blacklight in their body will quickly respond and try to replace all of the lost cells but in doing so will drain stocks of Biomass like crazy. What happened at the end of SR1 was that Alex's Blacklight's instinct to survive via evolving to the situation decided that if the problem was that Blacklight under water was bad, then Blacklight needed to go away and the body will live. So the Blacklight flooded Alex's body with clean biomass, all biomass within the body is clean until needed then it is infected with Blacklight, this caused Alex's body to regrow… albeit in a malnourished state and Blacklight retreated deep deep into Alex's body.

This is my version of how Blacklight might respond to the situation it was faced with.

* * *

Alex slammed back on to the bed with Mileena following onto his chest. Both completely out of breath and completely naked.

"So… how many… hours has that… been." Alex said before looking over to the bedside table. "Damn it… we knocked over the clock." Alex said as his breath began to return to him.

"Who cares, we are having fun after all." Mileena said as she moved up Alex's chest and soon back to his lips. The two Virals returned to their battle of tongues and just as Alex's hands began moving downward… the TV in their motel room turned on and started blasting static. Mileena quickly responded with a mass of tendrils pricing the screen.

"Was that really necessary?" They both turned to the room's phone, where Dana's voice was coming from.

"Sister, I love you but this really isn't a good time." Alex growled out, the sentiment shared by Mileena by the scowl on her face.

"If you two don't get dressed right now I'm telling Luz where you guys are."

"And?" Alex asked not caring about the glare he got from the woman in his bed.

"She's going to want her turn."

"And?"

"She like sharp object in sex."

"And?"

"You are human now and don't have a healing factor."

"Oh fuck." Alex was really hating his situation right now. Sex and sharp objects had become something he loved over his year with Luz. "Fine…" Alex grumbled before Mileena got off his body and he moved off the bed. "But this will continue later." Alex said, but to Dana or Mileena neither of the women could tell.

"After you put some pants on head to the Church, Ultor finally made it look good by the way." At that the line went dead. An hour later they standing in front of the newly rebuilt Church. It now was wrapped around with marble and grass park and built on elevated platform, it was now cleaned of any graffiti and now shined bright in the sun. It disgusted Alex. The two Virals walked up to the stairs leading up to the entrance where Dana was sitting while working on her laptop. "About time you got here."

"Had to save Gat." Alex shrugged, not really caring what Dana thought about the issue.

"No, I believe the reason you blew Carlos off was and I quote… beer. Nah uh… beer." Dana said as she looked up to her brother. The two glared at each other for a moment before Dana returned to her laptop. "Good to have you back Alex." She said before closer her laptop and standing back up. "Come on, got to show you something." She said as she started walking up the stairs to the Church.

"So why meet here instead of the Vila… the Vila is still there right?" Alex said concerned that it might have been taken away by the cops or something.

"No, I still live there. By myself. Luz moved out and has her own place in suburbs."

"I lived on the island to make sure you were kept safe." Mileena answered the unsaid question.

"Living on my own is nothing new to me but it would have been nice to get a visit every now and then." Dana shot a glare to Mileena but the Viral Proto ignored it. "Carlos stopped by a few times. Price stayed the fuck away once he rebuilt his dad's mansion."

"So you must have been pretty lonely these past few years." Alex said playfully. Teasing Dana like this had been one of the few light hearted things he had done back before Blacklight, back when he was a cold hearted jackass.

"No Alex, I am not seeing anyone. Everyone in this city is fucking crazy, I'm not getting involved in that shit." Dana groaned as she opened the door to the church. It was just as clean on the inside as the outside. It looked like it might actually hold Sunday mass rather than a gang meeting. "Over here…" Dana led Alex as Mileena had been to where they were going a few times. "… when Ultor was rebuilding the Row, I hacked into their plans and added in a little something special." Dana walked over to the confession booth and opened a hidden panel on the back of the wood box. "On paper Ultor thinks they built a underground bomb shelter made for the entire exec board and their families. All the facilities needed to live out the apocalypse and then some. A little boost to the reconstruction budget, Price's construction company and a few deleted E-mails, and none of Ultor even knows that this is here." Dana punched in a code to the pad. A door opened up to an elevator built into the Church wall.

"Nice… how big is it." Alex asked as they entered the elevator.

"The size of the Row."

"Fuck no… really?"

"It was finished about a year ago and we have expanded since then." Dana said as the doors closed in front of them. "It's just a little under a quarter of a mile underground and completely sealed, the only way in and out is through this elevator, a secret entrance to the Ultor headquarters building that Ultor has none idea about, and an emergency escape pipe that only Virals can use."

"What have guys been using it for?"

"Mostly research and development of Blacklight, but so far it is about ninety percent empty."

"Just who is doing the research?" Now Alex was getting worried, only himself or Ragland when the man was alive could handle Blacklight, or at least as far as Alex was concerned. Blacklight was his, he would not allow anyone that didn't have his blessing to ever come close to it with a microscope. Those morons at Blackwatch were dead for the sins hey committed by researching what was beyond their understanding.

"We have a former Blackwatch scientist, the head of the Illuminati sent him to us a week after you went into your coma. His name is Haga Atshushi and he quite the asset, he also has a massive hero complex for you. I would even say it borders on a man crush." Everything that Dana had said sounded like nails clawing on a blackboard to Alex that only stopped at the sound of the elevator dinging telling them they had arrived. "Now Alex I know…" The second the door opened Alex began running out to find this Blackwatch mad scientist. While he had become basically human, he still could feel Blacklight. And right now he was heading to the nearest source of Blacklight he could sense. The halls of this bunker were the standard white walls with a line of decorative purple light running through the middle. The shape of the hall wasn't the normal square but a pentagon with the occasional door breaking the shape. Alex soon came to what he could feel was a Blacklight construct. His mind was too fearful of what could a Blackwatch scientist could be doing. But when he opened the door… he gasped in shock, joy, and confusion.

"Is… is… is that a fucking Halo Elite?!" Alex shouted in joy as he stared at the Blacklight construct that took a great resemblance to the video game alien. The only difference might be that the armor that the Halo Elites wore were replaced with natural bone carapace. The Blacklight construct was currently suspended in a viral tissue sack hanging off the wall. Alex, completely memorized by the sight of the Elite walked into the room to get closer to the Construct. But once he got too close, the construct awoke from its suspended sleep. Its reptilian like eye opened and soon the Viral tissue sack opened, expunging its occupant to the ground. The Elite dropped to the floor like a well-disciplined solider in a classic hero landing. The display only made Alex even more pleased and overjoyed.

"Alpha… awaiting orders." It spoke in a perfectly deep slightly graveled voice. Alex was practically giddy at the sight.

"Hm… return to your pod, I had come simply to inspect. So far everything is satisfactory."

"Thank you Alpha." It said before walking back to the pod, it reached up and a tendril from the pod extended out and pulled the Elite up and back in. The pod closed shut and refilled with the same fluid it had been before.

"That was so cool."

"You really think so?" Alex turned around to see… not what he was expecting. He was expecting a old hunched over mad doctor type. Not a young man that couldn't have been any older than twenty one. "That's great! I really worked hard on this project, more so than the other because of the whole Halo inspiration." He said excitedly as he approached Alex. "So you're Zeus, it is and great honor to meet you sir." The kid bowed as he spoke.

"Uh huh… you must be that former Blackwatch scientist, right?" Alex said not sure how he wanted to respond to him. On one hand, he was Blackwatch, on the other… he made the greatest Blacklight Construct Alex had ever seen.

"Yes, Haga Atshushi. I want to say that it is certainly former Blackwatch. And they would agree if the fact I am now on the FBI's top ten most wanted list says anything."

"Okay damn… that is really unexpected." Alex said honestly shocked. "Soo… how'd you make the Elite?" Alex said trying to turn the conversation anywhere else.

"With a lot of screw ups… when it comes down to it, Blacklight Construct creation is just getting lucky with the mixing of different strains and then finding the right way to combined those strains in ways that end up working together and then you need someone to go into the Hive Mind to basically jumpstart the whole thing." Atshushi explained as he walked over to the Elite pod. "Then if it all works, the Hive will accept it and incorporate the new addition. Much like how the hives just know how to make hunters, now your Hive just know how to make these guys. If you would start a outbreak right now, and it grew to the point of creating birthing hives, it would make these maybe alongside or instead of hunters."

"But say that I want to make these things without a outbreak."

"Way ahead of you, that's what I've been working on now. I've been trying to guide the Hive to create something of a natural birthing pool. My plan is create a spawning pool in which these guys grow in and then either be taken out once they are ready for memory implant or are given a connection in the pool and they can just climb out once their done."

"Memory implant?"

"Well yeah, what separates these guys isn't their physical form but their minds. They all have memories of soldiers and tacticians implanted into their minds, I also give them a random cocktail of memories of people in the Hive to give them all a bit push in forming identity."

"So they're sentient?"

"Well yes and no. The have individuality but I wouldn't say they have free will. They are Blacklight constructs and are loyal to the Hive and the Evolved they are attached to in the Hive. They will not question their bounds in the Hive Mind, it just can't happen. Not only that but they lack the ability to make choices. You can't go and ask them if they think they are having a nice day, they would just recite what they did that day. But they do have preferences, I have noticed that. Some of them prefer to fight in close combat, others stick to range. I think that is more their Blacklight instincts guiding them to the best roles in a squad that need to be filled so in a way they aren't really choosing it for themselves but rather the Hive Mind is dictating to them what is needed."

"You seem to have gotten pretty far with these guys."

"This project has been the one a focused the most on."

"But there are others."

"Yeah, half of my other projects have been side projects made to help this one. The Birthing pool is one that is still a work in progress. But one that is finished is the… wait… you need to see it." Atshushi said as waved for Alex to for follow him out of the room. Alex followed the excited younger man down the halls to a large end door. "This is the place where we keep the rest of them. The one you found was just one I had for tests. Things like how resistant to fire, and how they take a bullet. We can talk their biology once you see them in action." Atshushi smiled as he opened the door. On the inside was a massive hanger like chamber. But what caught Alex was not the size of the chamber but the abundance of Blacklight ecology. On the celling there lines of fleshy tendrils crisscrossing, and hanging below the tendrils were large orbs acting as bio-luminescent lights for the chamber. And off in the back of the chamber was ten Blacklight structures, built from ground with a tree like trunk, ending in oval shape mass that on each side contained a Elite pod with a waiting Blacklight Construct, between each of the pods on the mass was a tendril that connected it to another set of pods and another tendril that shot to the ground to help anchor the pod carrier.

The two men walked up to the railing, they were currently standing on a elevated walkway that wrapped around the chamber with two sets of stairs built into it to allow for them to walk down later.

Alex was snapped out of his staring at the pod sets by the screeches coming from the other side of the chamber. He looked over and saw cages of misshapen Backlight Constructs and a few infected zombies.

"Ready to see them in action?"

"Fuck yeah, how do you get them out of the pods?"

"Oh yes… I forgot that you have been muted to the Hive Mind. My apologies. But this is the part I require Mileena, they respond to the metal commands of Evolved. I am told that they attach themselves to certain _lights_ in the Hive Mind. But as Alpha, they likely will respond to you regardless of who they attach themselves to."

"If one group of these things attach themselves to Mileena and another attach to Gat… what would happen?"

"It's as you are thinking, they would fight. If the two were hostile to each other. If the relationship between the two Evolved in question is good then the Elite will likely see then as brothers in arms, there would be bonds of loyalty. If the relationship is not good, but neutral… likely indifference at best and light rivalry at worst. And if hostile, kill on sight unless ordered not to." Atshushi explained as he walked back to the door and to the intercom on the side of the door. "Hello, Dana… is Mileena there with you?"

"Did you find Alex?"

"Yes, I am showing the Elites."

"God we need to find a better name for them. Pretty sure we can be sued on that. But that's good you found him and he's not trying to bash your head in."

"I'm still deciding on that!" Alex called back not taking his eyes of the pods. Atshushi chuckled fearfully at that and turned back to the intercom.

"He's joking right?"

"I'm sure he is… but anyways, Mileena is not here. I don't know where she went off to." The intercom went dead and Atshushi turned back to Alex who still was looking at the Pods. But with the snap of his fingers, Mileena jumped up from the floor below and landed next to her Alpha.

"If it wasn't for the convenience I'd find that creepy." Alex joked as Atshushi joined the two Virals. "So bring them out, I want to see how they work." Alex said still never taking focus off the pods, this was important, he was not being the carefree Alex but the Alpha and leader of the Hive. Mileena nodded and focused on the pods.

There were forty pods in total with each carrier tree holding four on each side. Once Mileena focused on them and commanded them expel their contents they did so. The Constructs were dropped down by carrying tendrils once the fluid in the pod had been drained into two smaller sacks below the pod. The Elites dropped to the ground fully awake and ready. They all did look like the Elites from the Halo, Alex having the memories of several gamers knew that they all looked like the Minor class of Elite, their bone carapace replacing the armor their inspiration wore. They marched form their pods in perfect formation and soon all forty of them were standing in a five by eight line. They all then saluted Alex.

"Alpha!" They all stated together. Alex didn't fanboy at the sight, he instead looked down at the Blacklight soldiers with a inspecting eye. They all didn't even flinch at their leader looking over them so carefully. He noticed that a few of them a small marks on their bone armor, he took that to mean that it didn't regrow and that had the implication that they couldn't heal like he could.

"I want to see a test of your worth, let's start with something even human soldiers can take on." Alex looked over to the cages of failed constructs and infected zombies. "Ready yourselves for show for your Alpha." Alex announced, they all slammed a hand to their chest and moved off together, each of the rows of eight group together with the one that had been standing in the front taking lead.

"They have organized themselves into squads of eight. The composition of the who does what varies from squad to squad. Mitsunari squad is composed of three close combat warriors and five range fighters, with the leader in the three CC users." Atshushi pointed to the group of Blacklight Constructs on the far right. "And Hirobumi squad is clean down the middle, four and four." Atshushi pointed to the squad stand back by the pods. "And Teru squad is the first to try out my new bio-weapons so they tend to change based on what I give them."

"You named the squad after samurai? Cool… exactly how do they fight, you said they have bio-weapons."

"On their right forearm they have two orifices right and left of the hand, this is for the retractable bone blade, and its exactly what you think it looks like. But these holes serve another purpose. They also are used in tandem with the bio-guns. Come, it would be easier to show rather then tell." Atshushi said as he started to move towards the nearest stairway to the lower floor of the chamber.

"I noticed that the bone carapace on a few of them have nicks and scratches, does this mean they don't regen?" Alex asked as they walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, I decided early on that since I had planned on making any weapons beyond the bone sword detachable and swappable that shapeshifting would be pointless. Not only that but perfect regen means that the cell membrane is compromised as thus they are weak to drowning but that isn't as big of an issue as the other downside of a weaken cell membrane. Exposer." This was something that Alex did not know. "So, I hardened the cell membrane, this means they can't heal super-fast and they can't shapeshift but if they get an arm torn off we won't have to worry about an outbreak. I felt that since these guys at the end of the are far more replaceable than Evolved that it was a good trade off."

"I agree, we really don't need that unless we control it." Alex agreed as they stepped off the stairs and began walking to the nearest group of Elites.

"Exactly." Atshushi was happy that Alex had approved of his change, it meant that he really didn't want to infect the world with Blacklight and that he cared if people got exposed unnecessarily. They approached the squad and the squad of Constructs quickly stopped what they had been discussing and saluted them.

"Alpha." The led Elite said, he appeared to be the one with the most nicks and scars. Alex took this to mean that only the most experienced took lead or maybe it was the one with the most kills.

"The Alpha wishes to see the Bio-gun. Please show him." Atshushi stated to the lead Elite, it nodded and looked to one of its squad members who brought over a median size crate. It opened the crate and brought out another Blacklight construct, but this one wasn't alive in the sense of humans or even most animals. Its body was once again a inspiration from the Halo games, this one looking like the Focus Rifle. A long barrel with open slots along the length ending in a beak like muzzle. The _body_ of the weapon was covered in protective bone plates but with a few cracks of the inner flesh visible. At the top of the body was a small tendril hanging limply down with a larger one doing the same on the bottom. The lead Elite Blacklight Construct took the Bio-gun and the second it had inserted his hand into the body of the gun the hanging tendrils came to life and quickly attached themselves to the two holes in the Elite's forearm. "It fires barbs of hardened bone, it can tear through Kevlar level armor and can dent solid plates of metal. The Bio-gun takes in air at as rapid pace, microscopic values within the crack in the bone plates take in the air and shut quickly before pushing the air further into the firing chamber. The Firing chamber is built in two, the first is where the barb will be placed and behind it are two smaller chambers that hold the compressed air. Only the incredibly strong structure that makes but Blacklight built bone could contain the pressure, anything less and the amount of air compressed in there would explode."

"So it works the same way a air gun does."

"Exactly but on a much deadlier scale. The so far the biggest problem is that it take time to fill the air chambers, about fifteen seconds per shot. But… see what it can do." Alex turned to see one of the Elites walk over with a few skeet plates. "Fire when ready." At that the Elite flung the plate high in the air, Alex was impressed at the strength it had but he was quickly even more impressed at the fact the Elite with the gun shot the fast moving target. The Elite flung another, and another, and another. Each time with enough time deference to allow the Bio-gun to restock on air.

"Very good." Alex said as he watched the Blacklight Construct fire off the barbs of Blacklight bone at the plates. "How far they can they be this accurate?"

"About as far as the average solider with a scoped M-15. But they'll get better. I went for the accurate and precise over the spray and pray route. They hold a storage of ammo in their bodies, all the gun does is fire them. That's what the connection to the gun is for. But there is only a limited amount of barbs that they can store in their bodies before they run out and have to return to the pods. I've been working on having them be able to regrow them on their own but that would still need an external source of biomass. Maybe snack bars or something." Atshushi joked before turning back to the Blacklight Construct. "Thank you for the demonstration, you may return to your plaining." The Elite nodded and turned back to its squad.

"I think we're ready to see some carnage. Let's get this little fight going." Alex said as he began to walk back to the upper level of the chamber. The Blacklight Constructs all began moving to a defensive line in preparation for the coming enemies. Once Alex, Atshushi, and Mileena were ready Atshushi pressed a button on a nearby terminal and the cages on the far end opened. The deformed constructs ran screaming at the nearest living thing, the other Blacklight Constructs. The Deformed moved faster than the Infected Zombies, jumping and charging their way towards the line of Elites. Alex ha to admit the whole thing looked like a Blacklight version of a Covenant/Flood battle. The memories of the gamers in him made the whole thing like a dream come true.

The first thing the Blacklight Constructs did was fire at the largest Deformed. All head shots. The Barbs their bio-guns fired cut and ripped parts of the Deformed heads' away in gory show of skill. They continued on firing but Alex did notice that the rate of fire was significantly slower than normal firearms, but the Elites were well coordinated, they kept their firing at a pace between them so that a Barb was flying toward the enemy a every moment. Alex also notice that the Barbs would sometimes continue past their first hit. Often they would hit another or two more targets, but with each hit the damage was reduced.

"Could it be possible to add a toxin or acid to the rounds?' Alex asked as he watched the horde gain ground toward the defensive line. His thinking being that those one or two that get hit after the first lethal first could be more effected than the minimal damage they get from the reduced speed of the shot.

"Toxin maybe, but a acid might be tricky." Atshushi mused. He had seen a few battle like this so it wasn't nearly as captivating. He thought about how he might work out a acid round while the horde of Deformed hit the lien of Elites. The Blacklight Constructs who didn't have the Bio-guns all extended their bone swords, long blades that carved around the hand and then extended down a foot in length into a sharp point. Those on range duty jumped back, their powerfully built legs gave them plenty of distance between them and the resulting melee.

"I'm having a hard time pinning down exactly what they are doing?" Alex said as he watched the melee Elites chop down the Infected and Deformed alike.

"Many western sword fighting styles, Kendo, even some moves from the Agni Purana… they are all over the place." Mileena said as she watched, as a person that loved all things close and personal when it came to combat, what she was seeing was a little insulting.

"They have yet to really… decide on what is the best form of swordplay for them. I personally would very much wish they would stop with the Kendo, they do not do it justice." Atshushi answered. They continued to watch the fight until the Backlight Constructs thinned down the horde to just a few stragglers. They watched as the final Deformed was knocked to the ground and pinned down by a Elite's foot. The Elite finished the deformed off with a single thrust into its head.

All the Elites were covered in blood and other viscus tissue. None of their number had fallen to the horde of Infected and Deformed. Many had gained a few new nicks and scars though. They all turned to the sound of their Alpha clapping, they watched as he walked down the stairs and over to them.

"Impressive… that is all I can say. Impressive on every count, skill, effectiveness, fearlessness, but most impressive above all else was the way you all worked together. As one unit, as one single body with a single purpose. The name Elites doesn't suit you, no… elites are small units that work best on their own, away from the group. You fight together as one cohesive whole… you are Legion, for there will be many of you but you al will be one. So Legionaries is far more fitting."

"You honor us with your declaration Alpha, forever will our kind seek greater unity and cooperation to better ourselves on the battlefield." The lead, now called Legionary, said as it and the rest saluted their Alpha.

"Good, train hard and figure the fuck out what you want to do when it comes to killing things in close combat. While you got the job done… it was just a mess out there." Alex scolded before starting his walk back to the stairs. "I expect great things from you all, you are few that will shape the Hive Legions to come."

* * *

Author's Notes

Alex has fucking Halo Elites as his own personal army now. Bet none of you saw that coming.

Credit where it is due, the Bio-gun was partly inspired by Biomass Effect's whistle gun, the science part of it.

Reviews

Shadekiller13 – Yes it is.

Notsae – You and a few other don't really like the whole water weakness thing. But I'm sure you read the explanation at the top. But thank you for the criticism. But he will get his powers back sooner rather than later, you are right after all, it just isn't the same.

Xalimech – Thank you, and he will.

Rmarcano321 – PM

Helkil – wow… dude (dude?) but seriously… dude? Seriously. I'm not opposed to a gay Shaundi pairing but Alex no. Alex does whatever he wants but if he's going to bang it will be with male parts.

Dracomancer – Thank you and thank you. I am looking for a beta for this story. But thank you for honestly. If you really want to, I'd be happy to send you chapters and you could give notes back as to what I could improve. But thank you regardless.


	22. News is Getting Out

Author's Notes

You all get one more! This is the last one before I work on something else for a bit.

If you have yet to review the last chapter then please do before reviewing this one.

* * *

Alex was sitting back in one of the pews in the newly restored Saints Row Church. It still made him sick to see it like this. All clean and shiny. It pissed him off even more when a group of tourists came in, taking pictures and pointing at stuff.

He had finished his tour with Dana and Atshushi, the resto of the complex underneath his feet was mostly empty but what was being used acted as Atshushi's lab. Ragland had left behind sevreal crates filled with different stable strains. But Atshushi needed more than just that. So he had set up three Fountains of Strains. The normal heroin junky model with the infected blood would drain out of out the floor and into a automated bottling system where the untested strains could be stored and once they had been tested, filed away with what they could do. It amazed Alex, and the best part, Ultor was the one who built the whole setup.

Atshushi had shown Alex a few other things that he had worked out. None of them nearly has useful as the newly named Legionaries. But all neat in their own way, one was a creature that you feed it coffee beans and it made some of the best coffee you would ever taste. Didn't matter what kind of bean you used. No sugar or creamer needed. Atshushi practically worshiped the thing.

"So… you are back from the dead." Alex turned around to see Troy, now in his chief of police uniform. "The two of us… back in this place… we should call the rest of the gang and have poker night." Troy said as he walked over to the pew in front of Alex and sat down in front of him.

"You know… I could be packing... or I could just smash your head in." Alex said as he leaned back. He wasn't sure how he was going to play this, on one had he considered Troy to be a friend, even if he was a cop. He just did his job when he arrested the Saints, he protected Gat and the Saints when they were on the inside, and he never went after Dana. So Troy deserved more than most.

"But you won't, I know you Alex. You don't kill unless someone give you a reason. Even with what I have done to the Saints… I haven't given you a reason."

"A reason to kill you… nah… a reason to hate you… maybe." Alex replied, his voice casual but there was a undertone of cold unfeelingness that put Troy on edge.

"Yeah… you're Alex alright." Troy said as he took of his hat. "Am going to assume that you and Gat are going to restart the Saints. Take back _Your_ city and all that shit."

"Most likely."

"Well then… I will stay out of your way. But I can't say the same for my department. And if the powers at be start breathing down my neck to do something about you… I know you won't hold it against me for doing my job."

"No, despite popular opinion… I know that cops do have a role to play in society. It's just a matter of how well and how you go about it. You do what you do to the letter of your job and we will have no problem." At that Alex leaned in closer to Troy. "But if you start to make things personal… and you better believe we will have a fucking problem." Alex leaned back and Troy stood up, he had enough of Alex for the day. But before he walked away he took one last look around the Church.

"You hate what they did too?" Alex nodded and Troy grinned so slightly that most would never notice it. Troy then walked out of the Church without another word. Alex continued to looked look up at the cross. Alex wasn't religious, his father always told him it was a bunch of nonsense, Alex even saw him punch a preacher that had come to their home once. But his time in the coma changed a bit of his opinion on that. He had seen things in that coma. A lot of things, in fact… it wasn't as lonely as he made it out to be. But those were memories that needed to be locked away for the time being. The sound of his phone pinging snapped him out of his thoughts. He pulled out his phone, it was a text from Gat saying that he and Aisha had finished they needed to talk.

* * *

"Well come on in." Gat joked as Alex walked into the house, it was bordering on the word manor. That was the money of a dead famous singer could get you. "You wanna beer?"

"I am offended that you even need to ask." Alex joked as they walked into the living room. The place was modern, with styles of Saints purple and posters of Aisha's albums on the walls.

"Hey Johnny who's that?!" Aisha called down form upstairs as Alex and Gat settled into the couches with beer, Gat opening his on the coffee table. "Johnny I don't care you just broke out of jail, you do not mess my furna… oh my god… Alex." Aisha said shocked a the sight of Alex laying back on her couch.

"Eay… I'm back." Alex waved joyfully before taking a sip form his beer.

"Dana said you were in a coma… but… a lot of us thought it was for good."

"Oh fuck noooooooo was that hell going to be forever."

"The last time I saw you, you were skin and bones. Fucked up like some bum in winter. But look at you now, looking great like nothing even happened."

"Yo, can we get back to business?" Gat said impatiently.

"What's the rush?" Alex knew the rush, right now Gat was actively fighting the booming voice in his head to violently murder Alex right then and there. Also people were claiming what should be the Saints' city as their own.

"I've been cooped up on death row and that bitch's been out in a coma…" Gat growled out before taking a sip of beer.

"Things have changed and not for the better, we need to fix that." Alex said sitting back up.

"And that can't wait until after dinner?"

"Nope." Gat said.

"Yup." Alex said. They both looked at each other but both knew who would win.

* * *

Two hours later.

"Thank you for dinner, it was great.' Alex said to Aisha at the back door while Gat waited in the running car.

"Come on, we got shit to do!" Gat called form the car.

"Thank you, and sorry for him. He's just excited to get back in the game.' Aisha said shaking her head before looking up to Alex. "Promise me that he'll be alright this time."

"I promise… that you will never have to worry about Gat dying anytime soon." Aisha looked like she was now able to let herself breathe for the first time in a long time.

"Thank you, I know I shouldn't worry… but… he can be so stupid sometimes." They both laughed at that before Gat started beeping the car horn. "you better get moving before he starts attracting the neighbors. Aisha said before walking back inside and closing the door behind her. Alex turned back to the waiting Gat and walked over to the car.

"You really are having a hard time aren't you?" Alex said as he leaned on the open window.

"We need to get you back man… all though out dinner… all I wanted to do was smash your head in or stabbed you in the eye with the butter knife."

"I know… I have a few ideas. The problem is that if any of them go wrong I could die." Alex said as he opened the door and got in.

"Well what about dying, wouldn't the shit in you come out if you… you know… were fuckin' dying."

"That's one of the ideas, but again if we are wrong then I'm gone. And I really don't want that." Alex groaned as he started drive out of the driveway of Aisha's house. "So… let's talk about something other than how you want to kill me and how the only likely ways to regain my powers are almost certainly lethal."

"Right… let's talk about getting the crew back together. Right now everyone from the old days are still in cells, all of them still have fifteen years. I'm sure that you have a plan to brake them all out at some point but for right now we need to start from scratch."

"Finding people who would join the new Saints won't be that hard. We can comb through the Hive for people who are out of a job or just want a change of life style. Plus I'm sure that we can find normal people with something against the current gangs and remember the Saints."

"Bodies ain't the problem. The problem is finding people that can lead them. And getting a place that can we can use for our own. But I think I got that problem figured out."

"Oh… you have a idea?"

"Head over to here…" Gat said as he pulled up a place on his phone and showed it to Alex. "… Its an old mission house, we should be able to set up shop there. But here's the thing, we're not staying in the mission house. Now check it out, when you were taking your nap, a earthquake dropped part of the city below sea level, and rather than clearing out the rubble, the city just built over it. There's an abandoned hotel that connects to the Mission house that would be perfect for us."

"And… there's always a catch."

"We gottta evict the current tenants."

"An enclosed space with only one way out… I think we are going to need a lot of help cleaning the place up afterward. It pisses me off I can't join you." They soon reached the old mission house. Bu the green cars parked outside, the two of them guessed that the Sons were camping out in either the mission house or the hotel below. "I'll wait in the car, you go have fun." Alex sighed sadly and Gat nodded in understand of his pain before getting out of the car.

* * *

"What's he doing now?" Liu Kang asked as he watched Johnny Gat walk in to the mission house while leaving Alex Mercer, aka Zeus behind.

"Sitting in the car… doing nothing." Hanzo Hasashi, code name Scorpion said as he handed the binoculars to his squad partner Kuai Liang, codename Sub-Zero.

"So, he's doing what he's done for the past five years." Sub-Zero said looking at their target.

"The other one has begun killing the humans underground." Tomas Vribada, codename Smoke, stated. As the team's designated Sensory Porto he was able to feel out the large amount of carnage that was happening just below the mission house.

"But why hasn't Zeus gone with him." Jade asked as she walked over to the edge of the roof they were scouting from.

"Maybe he had a phone call or something?" The Team's human officer Jax Briggs guessed as he went over a report from his data-slate. "But regardless something is going on with and we need to find out what."

* * *

"Did you have to make such a mess?" Alex joked as he walked down the staircase of the underground hotel. The place was a horror show, corpses hanging from the walls and ceiling, blood everywhere. Gat was currently resting back on a couch that had been speared the stains, his legs up on a relatively damaged body.

"I seem to remember you doing worse in Green's apartment." Gat shot back lightly. "So what do you think?" Gat asked as Alex walked around the hotel lobby.

"It's a shithole." Alex said as he looked around, even taking away the gore the place was not in the best shape and he knew that it was likely even worse behind the walls. There was at the very minimum structural damage.

"True that… but it's a shithole with potential." The snort form Alex that followed that statement answered Gat. "Oh come on man, a stripper pole, some flat screens, maybe some nicer furniture."

"All good ideas… certainly a few stripper poles, but I think your thinking to small…" Alex said as he begun walking out of the hotel and out into the ruined streets outside. "I think we can turn this whole underground district into our Saints world."

"You want to fix this whole place up?" Gat asked as he followed Alex out into the ruined district.

"Yeah, it can work, out crew can work and live down here. Our own little world where only we can play. The hotel can be worked on first, purple and stripper poles galore." Alex said with a telling smirk, it was all Gat needed to be reassured. "But first… clean up your mess man." Alex pointed back in the hotel. "Good eating." Alex patted Gat on the back before going to explore his new underground kingdom.

* * *

Mileena was back at the Church lab, she was getting fidgety. She couldn't stop thinking about Alex being around Gat. Both her and likely Price would all have the same need to kill him and take his place when in close proximity. She knew she could hold off the whispers and sometimes screams, she had done so her whole life when she was just a Proto.

All Proto-Novus have the same side affect of having a larger connection to the psychic plane. The whispers, the voices that weren't your own. Promising things so great that it was hard to refuse. That was why the Illuminati Blue Line existed, to search out Proto-Novi before they succumb to the voices. When that happens… that's when shit starts getting scary even for her.

She had seen what happens when you take the voice's offers, it happened to her sister. Ever the loner and self-reliant one of the two, Mileena always thought it weakness to listen to the voices. But her sister didn't, at first it seemed harmless. The Voices never said much to her sister… but then one day they got really talkative, Mileena later found out it was because the Illuminati was closing in on them and the Voices were running out of time. They told her sister that the men coming would hurt them, enslave them, make them their toys. The Voices played on her fears, her sister never wished to be beholden to anyone or anything. But she never saw the irony in what the Voices wanted, they wanted to enslave her, they wanted to turn her into their toy.

In the end, Heller and his team came and her sister could feel their desire to take them but in her fear it was twisted, she confused their desire to save them into something darker. And then, everything went to shit real fast. It wasn't like she missed her sister that much, she was a bitch.

"Mileena?" The Beta snapped out of her memories at the sound of Atshushi saying her name.

"Yes, what do you need?"

"You seem to have been thinking pretty hard, something on your mind?" He said before returning to looking over the data from the newest strain.

"When can you return Alex's powers?" Mileena asked bluntly, she needed Alex back to normal. Both for his safety and her personal preference. She liked to be around power and right now Alex was lacking in that in some areas, not in all but some.

"I'm sorry… I don't have a clue." Atshushi said as he spun his chair back around to Mileena. "The issue is that his Blacklight has retreated deep into his bone marrow, muscle tissue, and brain. And then to top it off, its been inactive for a long time. There might be any number of ways to get at what few Blacklight Cells are in Alex's body but the biggest problem is bringing them back. At the moment they appear to be dormant, if they weren't they would have infected any non-infected cell nearby by at Alex's command."

"Could it be that he just hasn't commanded them. Perhaps they just need a direct order?"

"I guess I didn't say that right, when I say Alex's command I mean any time he would try to use his Blacklight. Like for healing, or shapeshifting. I'm sure that he has tried using these powers, and so…" Atshushi threw his hand s up halfheartedly. "… nothing. The issue is the fact I've never seen Blacklight cells dormant and none of Doctor Ragland's notes talk about the subject likely because he never thought of the possibility."

"If you could run test on dormant cells then could you find a way to fix Alex." That made the former Blackwatch scientist chuckle. "What's so funny."

"Are you planning on chopping off Alex's arm? Because Alex so far is the only person with dormant Blacklight cells, can't make them. I barely have a idea how Alex's ended up that way much less recreate the processes. And even if I could, there's no guarantee it would produce the same result given Blacklight's complete random mutation tendencies."

"Are there any ideas that might bring Alex back?" Atshushi didn't answer, instead he just stared at her.

"I understand the bond you share is strong, Blacklight demands it to be so. But I've told you that if I had any idea I would have run them by Alex when he was here. And now I have explained the situation to you. But you continue to hit the proverbial wall, you don't have a logical reason to continue asking so that means it is personal." It was Mileena's turn to stare at the young genetic savant, it had a lot more effect given her inhuman eyes.

"He's the man who gave me complete freedom, from the Illuminati and the perils of the psychic plane. I owe him a great debt." Atshushi didn't look convinced but turned back to continue his work regardless.

* * *

"Is this clean enough for you?" Gat asked as Alex returned from his exploring. The hotel now was clean of gore and blood. Alex looked around and nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you… but this shit is for a god damn janitor to deal with."

"You really think that anyone but a Viral could have cleaned all that crap up?" Alex said as he sat back down on the couch. "But to the point, we need people to do things… things we don't want to do."

"That's what I'm sayin', we can't really run a gang if we don't have… you know, a fucking gang."

"Finding grunts won't be the problem. You and Mileena can run through the Hive Mind and see who might know people that feel up to joining. And I'm sure you yourself know people that might be willing to hook up with us. But what we need are leaders. You can work as a second in command. Mileena will stick to the Hive and away from the Saints. Carlos and at as a captain, but we need a few more. We also need people to run our businesses, Luz can handle the hos, but that still leaves drugs, gambling, and enforcing the protection racket. And then lastly we're going to need some to run the numbers, keep us in the green."

"Lin can run the gambling, she has contacts in Chinatown that do that regardless of who runs the streets. Victor can work as an enforcer again, keep the protection money and the boys in line. But they're still locked up. Along with a lot of our boys."

"We can bust them out once I either get my powers back or we have the numbers and funds to make that happen." Alex said before getting back up. "But first, find who you think is right and I'll have a talk with them. Bring them over to our side." Alex said as he passed Gat on his way out.

"And just where are you going?"

"Shoe shopping."

* * *

Dexter Jackson walked through the living room of his Chicago penthouse. He had long since moved away from Stilwater, he felt he couldn't do it fast enough. The place that had been his home city had too many bad memories for him to live there anymore.

He had moved around since then, for the last year or so he though he finally found Chicago as the best place for him. He enjoyed the view of the city, the local food was good and that was needed as his enhanced tastes made eating anything not good a extra terrible experience.

He was now far from the low streets that had been his life before. He was the Chief of Security at Ultor. And he had his hands on the throats of many people in other departments. He had become a pariah to many within the company. All he had to do was talk to a person and he would know everything he needed to blackmail them into submission.

Dex turned on the lights in his kitchen, the light slowly turning up, his senses not attuned to rapid change. There were certainly benefits to his unnatural powers but there were many every day irritations.

As he began to make his kale smoothie he heard something. His enhanced ears heard the quiet sound of his home phone sending a call to voice mail.

"Dex…" That voice caught his attention, it was Troy. "… remember that agreement we had, well… I'm living up to my end of the bargain. He's up, Alex is back in the world." The line went dead. Dex didn't move, only the soft sound of his smoothie dripping down the walls of the blender could only be heard by him.

"ARGH!" In a fit of rage Dex threw the blender into the wall.

* * *

Alex walked into the shoe shop Luz had been working at to make money. She apparently didn't want to be reliant on Dana. To the point that Dana had no clue where and what Luz did most of the time. All Dana had told Alex was that she worked at the shoe shop he was standing in and that she kept to herself. Meaning no internet or active credit card use. That worried Alex given Luz's personality, both sides of it. The materialistic side and the psychopathic one.

"Can I have everyone attention please." Alex called out to the small store. He saw Luz quickly turn around, when she saw him her eyes lit up like star but with a single finger he told her to wait. "I'm going to need all of you to leave right now." The woman at the front desk moved to confront Alex but he stopped her with a the sight of a gun and then a round in the ceiling. "I will say that again… I am going to need all of you to leave. Call the cops once you are outside I don't care but just leave." Everyone listened after that and quickly moved out of the shop, all expect Luz who once the shop was empty ran to Alex. She slammed into him with a deep kiss, quickly grabbing ahold of her love with arms and legs. Her lips never leaving his.

"I have missed you my love, these last five years have been the greatest hell of my life." She finally said after parting from him, still not letting go though.

"Yes I know, but now I am back and we can certainly make up for lost time."

"I have a few toys hidden here but most of the most fun are back…" Alex stopped her with a finger to her lips.

"We are going to have to limit ourselves there. I'm sure Dana told you of what happened to me."

"Yes but… but… I have longed for you. I saved myself for you, no other man or woman has touched me since you left. I need you."

"And I will be happy to help you… but nothing sharp. Not until I'm back to how I should be." Luz looked slightly disappointed but still returned to kissing her lover. The two continued their making out until Alex had the bright idea of moving their fun to her boss's office. A great way to say I'm quitting.

* * *

Deep in the west Congo of Africa, there is a place that the locals refuse to speak of. A place that does not show up on any map. A place that not even the most fearless and ruthless warlord would not venture. It is a place that is only referred to in hushed whispers, Nafasi ya ndoto. Place of nightmare.

Deep within this feared place is a compound, built by strange and unholy beings not found in nature. It was not large but certainly built well and sturdy. In the surrounding jungle there were no natural creatures. Those that lived here were long dead and consumed and none came to replace them. They knew that those beings that lived there now were not prey. Strange beings, with shapes that would confuse and memorize any that looked upon them staked the trees and grass of Nafasi ya ndoto. They held no parts of known animals and all shared the same oily black skin and multiple eyes. On the head of each of these creatures they had a pair of lines of small glowing eyes and held no pupils and showed no sign of movement

One of these creatures staked through the trees, having come from a small set up at the edge of the stillness that was Nafasi ya ndoto. It carried in its tentacled claws a small USB. The creature had been sent for the past three years to the same spot where a small dish connected to a terminal. It would put in a new USB and take the old one and return to its master. And trudged through the jungle until it came to the place that had been its spawning place. It walked through the opening doors into the compound. Not even giving a thought to the smaller watcher creatures that perched above the door and halls.

The creature's bird and paw like hybrid feet were the things to make a sound within the compound halls. Not the breaths of the Watchers nor its own were heard as they had to have had breath for it to be heard.

The creature soon came upon another door, this one locked more so than the rest. The creature waited for the next few days before it opened. All though out that time it never moved from its spot. It walked inside, not giving anything in the lab any attention. It walked up to its master, holding out the USB. It took a while for its master to notice its presence as he was currently in the middle of a dissection.

"Ah, good work C-138, wait here while I check a few things and you will get your new USB for download." It waited as its master walked over to the nearby computer. "I hope that Game Of Thrones finished downloading, can't wait to see who survives and dies the reign of the incest brat." Its master turned on the computer and began going over the various files and data that had come back. "Oh… how interesting… he's back… interesting indeed."

* * *

Reviews

Helkil - You seem to be very focused on this, I can say that Shandi will get Evolved, I can say she will be sleeping with Alex, but then again so will many other women. Not only that but Alex is incapable for a real relationship.

Xalimech - I am open to suggestions. The Elites and the Mortal Kombat characters are the only ones I'm doing so far.

Notsae - Alex will get back to normal... soon... long enough to make this whole plot tool worth it. And you have now gotten a small taste of Ragland's creepy work.

rmarcano321 - PM


	23. Seconds

Carlos held the glass of booze in his hand, stirring the ice inside every now and again more absentmindedly than on purpose. At the moment, he was trying to get over his crush on his boss's sister. A strange situation, but one he was sure wasn't that rare. It wasn't that big of a crush, but it was big enough to require booze to get over it.

He sat in his favorite bar, a small dive in the south end of Stilwater. It was a place that he had gone with his older brother back when they both were in the Saints. Carlos was still a Saint, and he was the last one in his family. Carlos looked up at the picture on the wall of him and his brother having a good time in this very bar. He finished off the liquor in his hand to distract himself before he became depressed for an entirely different reason.

"Ah… finally found you." Carlos didn't look at Alex. "Aw… still pissed off that I ditched ya? Come on… I just got out of jail and I needed to drink. You understand, right?" Carlos just poured another glass for himself. "I'll pay your bar tab."

"Hey boss, what do ya need?" Alex laughed at Carlos' sudden change in attitude.

"Ah… there's Carlos, I thought I'd lost him." Alex said as he sat on the stool next to Carlos. "So what'cha thinking about that's got you so down?"

"The normal stuff, life, money, the fact you don't have a chance with the girl you've been crushing on for the past five years, stuff like that." Carlos said before taking another drink.

"Sorry buddy, my sister isn't jumping on you any time soon." Alex chuckled before turning to the bartender. "Mi buen hombre, one glass of your finest tequila." The man just glared at Alex as he continued to wipe glasses. They both stared at each other, Alex waiting for his drink and the bartender not giving him one. "Maybe I should introduce myself… I'm Alex Mercer… Boss of the Saints… just came back from the dead… maybe you've seen my name on TV?

"Three other pendejos have come in saying they were Mercer." The Bartender said in heavy Mexican accent. Alex looked over to Carlos and the Saint nodded. The Bartender, who looked like he could be one of the toughest men on the planet, immediately paled at the idea he had not served THE Alex Mercer a drink when he requested it. In three seconds Alex was holding a glass of the best tequila the place had on hand.

"Thank you, and if those men return and still claim to be me, please beat them for me." Alex said with a gracious smile before taking a drink. "Whoa… stronger than I thought it would be. But good." Alex said as he continued to drink.

"You know, the people around here still remember names like Julius Little, Alex Mercer, and Johnny Gat." Carlos started. "They still remember what they Saints stood for. This was the first neighborhood to be taken by the Saints after we freed the Row. Julius had already put into place a lot of plans to better the neighborhoods, and the people remember things like that." As Carlos continued talking, Alex had turned and was leaning back against the bar, making it clear he was still listening. "When the cops took down the Saints, a lot of Stilwater didn't rejoice at the move like the guys on TV want you think, they mourned. Not only had the loss of the Saints meant that new gangs would come, outside gangs due to everyone local having been rounded up, it also meant that all the good the Saints did under Julius would go away, and that all the good Julius could do would never happen. Alex…" Alex looked back. Carlos never called him by his name unless it was important. "People fear you, but what they fear the most is that you won't be Julius, that you'll just be another Hector or Angelo. They're worried you'll use the name of the guy who came before you to walk on the people." At that, the glass in Alex's hand shattered.

"Don't… ever say that. I will never take Julius' name in vain. There are men I admire, there are men I see as family, but there are few men that I can say that I respect. And Julius is one of them." Alex said firmly, completely ignoring the fact his hand was bleeding. "I won't say I'll be as… caring… as Julius was, but you better tell people that I will never dishonor his legacy by making the Saints something he never wanted it to be."

"Uh… boss…" Carlos looked down to Alex's hand as he followed his eyes.

"Oh… fuck… I keep forgetting how that happens now." Alex said before taking a nearby bottle of booze and pouring it over his bleeding hand. "Fuck! Damn, that motherfucking hurts…" Alex growled as the alcohol ran over his hand. "Bartender! Clean rag please!" Carlos caught the thrown rag and handed it to Alex. "Thanks… now… enough of Julius and the Saints' philosophy. Let's talk getting the Saints back from the dead." Alex said as he tightly wrapped the rag around his wounded hand. "I've got Gat out of jail and he's going to be my second. I'm bumping you up the chain of command and putting you in charge of our war with the other three gangs. You were there during the original war for Stilwater, so you have some idea of how to run things, but that still leaves a lot of people that are not accounted for. Luz will handle working girls, you'll handle the planning of our attacks, and Gat and I will lead. There's not much else in terms of leadership. Gat's working on filling out the bodies for the rest of the gang, but we need more… you know anyone that might be good?" Carlos thought for a moment before a name came to mind.

"I might know someone… but you're gonna have to trust me, she's more than what you'll see when you meet her."

* * *

"Gat! Hey man, what's up?" Pierce said excitedly as he saw his old cellmate standing at his door. Pierce pulled his friend in for a handshake and the two walked into his apartment. It was a little bare and not ready for company in his opinion, but he and Gat had shared worse.

"Not on death row and back with my girl, how the fuck do you think I'm doing?" Gat answered with a grin.

"Right, but how'd you get out? I doubt the cops could'a screwed up your case like they did mine." Pierce said as he handed his friend a beer. Gat went silent at that. The viral had never told Pierce that he had ordered that get out of jail free card for him through the Infected cops.

"My buddy came and busted me out during my appeal."

"Don't tell me… him? Motherfuckin' Alex Mercer! He's back?!" Gat had told Pierce all about Alex, well… the public story of Alex anyways. "The One Shot King, seducer of the untouchable but totally fuckable, Unkillable demon of the Row. _That_ Alex Mercer?" Pierce said excitedly.

"Wow… please tell me you came up with those names on your own."

"You know it man… but is he really back?"

"Yup, and he's bringin' the Saints back with him. He and I could use you." Gat said as he took a sip from his beer. "So, whaddya say?"

"Fuck yeah, I'm in all the way."

"Good, because we need more crew. You know people, a lot of people, and we need them to know we ain't shitting them, we need to prove that we're serious. You can get their attention, but we need to show them we ain't dicking around. A few dead Ronin officers might do the trick."

"Fuck yeah it might." Gat chuckled as the nodded in agreement.

* * *

Carlos and Alex pulled up to a small one-story house in the suburbs. The place was lazily maintained but not completely trashed, and sitting out on the front lawn in a pulled out sofa was the person Carlos had brought Alex to meet. Alex looked the woman over from inside Carlos' car. She… didn't look like much. Classic hippy attire, slouched back on the couch only paying a bit of attention to the car that had pulled up to her home.

"You sure about this…" Alex said slowly with narrowed eyes. "… I mean… she… you CAN see where I might question this, right?" Alex said pointing to the woman.

"Boss… I told you, just trust me." Carlos said before getting out of the car, Alex following alongside. "Hey Shaundi!" Carlos announced casually as he approached the hippy.

"Hey Carlos… haven't seen you for a while now." Her voice was a mix of bliss and carefree. It didn't make Alex feel any more confident in this idea, but it also made him want to know just what she was on for later.

"Was in prison, but I'm back out." Carlos replied, seeing that was all that was needed.

"Cool… who's your friend?" Shaundi said turning her head over to Alex, who was still half-glaring in her direction as if trying to figure her out like she was an annoying puzzle, one that he didn't necessarily want to do. "He seems like a downer."

"I am hurt…" Alex said in mock grief before returning to a lighter seriousness. "… I'm Alex Mercer." That caused Shaundi to fall off the couch in shock.

"Whoa… sorry about that man… I didn't…" She stopped when Alex raised a hand.

"I'm not going to kill you, it's just that Carlos thinks you might be good for the Saints. I'm bringing them back to show motherfuckers who's really in charge." Alex explained as Shaundi got back up. "I'm just a little… unimpressed at the moment."

"Well Shaundi here has contacts all over the city." Carlos tried to defend his friend and his idea of bringing in her in.

" _I_ have contacts all over the city." Alex retorted.

"Can't have too many friends." Shaundi casually said, it wasn't so much a retort but a statement. Alex thought over both her response and how she didn't seem to be fighting for the job. Normally that would be a mark against, but Alex felt it was actually a good thing. He didn't need people who were looking for a job, he needed people that could do well in it. Wanting the job too much meant they might lie to try and get it.

"True… and I do need more." Carlos smiled. He knew he had gotten Alex's attention by the fact that his boss was still there.

"Nobody knows the Stilwater drug trade better than Shaundi." Carlos added, remembering how Alex had said he needed someone to run drugs for the Saints, and he knew that no one could beat Shaundi in that.

"Probably from her own experience, correct?" Alex jabbed lightly, but he had nothing against her if that was the case. So long as she kept to the rule, which was "don't dip into your own product."

"Yeah… got some good stuff here if you want to test it out."

"Okay… I like you, but I need a little more. Knowing drugs and knowing people are one thing but I can find that in a lot of places. What makes you different?"

"Got a masters in both chem and computer science." She shrugged and Alex went silent.

"Welcome to the Saints, let's test that shit you have out in celebration." An hour later the three of them were sitting in Shaundi's living room stoned out of their minds.

"Dude… racoons know they look like bandits right… because… right… they have to know…"

"Yeah… and why do they have to eat out of the trash… if a racoon came to the door… I'd give him something to eat… they get paid so little."

"I don't think they have jobs."

"What? No wonder they need to dig through the trash, they're homeless."

"That's so sad dude… we should open a homeless shelter for racoons."

"Ah man, that is one sweet idea."

It went on like this for a while.

* * *

Dana was currently working on procuring samples of certain insects that had unique genes for Atshushi. It was difficult to keep up with his demands lately, mostly because of how excited he got when he had discovered some obscure bug or animal with something in its genome that could make Blacklight better.

First, she would have to find the specimen. Then she had to find a way to get the specimen, then a way to get it to them here in Stilwater without alerting the authorities and getting caught smuggling, or getting caught by Blackwatch. She wasn't entirely convinced that they had stopped looking for them, and having a bunch of random insects, plants, and animals with unique genetics sent to a shitshow like Stilwater might alert them. Mileena said that the Illuminati had a vested interest in keeping Alex a secret, but they were still more a "them" than an "us" in Dana's mind so she would give them only a token amount of trust.

She was currently in the Church Lab, in the main center of Atshushi's lab. It was fairly clear of the Blacklight Constructs that the scientist had been producing in the three years that the facility had been operational. Like the real electronic lights above instead of the bio-luminescent orbs, everything was crisp and clean.

Dana didn't pay much of it mind, she was here because she, like Mileena and Alex, wanted to know what could be done about Alex's situation. Atshushi had finished trying to explain once again that he couldn't do anything because he didn't have nearly enough data to even try life risking operations, never mind safe ones. It wasn't what she wanted, but it was what she expected.

She knew that it was all about learning about Blacklight, but the problem was that Blacklight was a bitch to study since anything one learned about it was almost always useful on that specific strain. So far, they had precious little data which could be applied to Blacklight as a whole. Dana sighed as she closed her laptop. She was worried about her brother.

He had become very used to getting shot in the year he had Blacklight. It still felt so much longer than it really was. He had only had Blacklight for about a year and a half, the months on New York and then the year in Stilwater, but Alex had become a whole other person in that time, and in Dana's opinion it was for the better. It made her have nightmares sometimes about how things would have gone if Alex hadn't changed the way he did, if he had gone down a darker path in life after the Outbreak. She was thankful that wasn't the case.

She was soon snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Atshushi running into the lab and shutting the door behind him. She then raised an eyebrow at him turning on the emergency lockdown on the door. It took a full eight minutes for all the locks to finish closing.

"Something happen?" She asked wryly as Atshushi fell to the ground breathing hard.

"One… of my newer experiments kinda went on a rampage." Atshushi admitted as he pulled himself up by the many locks on the door. "I was trying to create a heavier class of soldier for heavy weapons… based off the Rancor from Star Wars, but just a little smaller…"

"And how did that go?"

"It may have excessive levels of aggression towards anything not Blacklight." Atshushi said as they heard the Blacklight monster smash on the reinforced door. Atshushi quickly moved over to the intercom. "I am so happy that Mileena opened the Elite-... _Legionary_ pods open for them to work on their close combat before she left." He said as he punched in the code for the Legionary chamber. "Attention Legionaries, hostile Blacklight Construct outside main lab. Myself and Dana Mercer have locked ourselves in a secure zone but require the hostile be put down." Atshushi slumped down after closing the line. "There… they should be able to take care of it."

"There's just one of them right?"

"Yeah, don't worry, the Legionaries will handle it…" The scientist said as he sat back against the door while waiting for his creations to save him.

* * *

Alex was walking down the stairs of the mission house with Shaundi and Carlos behind him. The sight that greeted him in the middle of the lobby made him smile, he had expected Gat would do this. There was a large ring of men and women, all wearing purple clothes and all engaging in the brutal "Canonization" ritual by which new Saints were inducted after brawling with the other members. Some of them were dressed better than others, but it seemed that Gat had drawn from quite a few differing group. He spotted Luz off to the side watching the carnage with glee. By the fact she was biting her lip and Alex could see her thighs rubbing together, he assumed that he was going to be able to feed off the turn on this was giving her soon after he was finished here. Gat soon felt the need to kill Alex and turned around to face his Alpha.

"Man, seriously, you need to get that thing fixed because it's really starting to get on my nerves." Gat grunted out, both of them knowing what he was talking about despite none of those present understanding.

"I know… just try to bear with it."

"Right… before you give your speech… first… you!" Gat pointed to one of the guys around the circle. "You're next." Before the guy could speak the guy next to him punched him to the ground. "I'd like you to meet the guy who found all these a-holes." Gat said as he nodded to the tall black man in a similar jersey jacket Alex was wearing, only instead of black and purple it was purple and white.

"Oh man… you're really him… it's so fucking awesome meeting you in person!" The man said as he hurried to shake Alex's hand vigorously. "Name's Pierce Washington."

"Good to meet you too, how do you know Gat?"

"We go way back. I was his cellmate when he was on death row, but then about a year later they found out they fucked up on my case so they let me out. We've been keeping in touch since then." Alex gave a small look at Gat and he nodded.

"Well then, welcome to the Saints, now sit back and listen. Everyone shut the fuck up! I got some things to say!" Alex called out to the gathered group of potential Saints. They all stopped what they were doing before turning to Alex who walked up to the top of the stairs. "Alright, listen up. I have been asleep for five fucking years… and in that time… the Saints were destroyed. We used to own this city for about… a week. But we owned the whole fucking thing, and for some reason the other gangs just don't seem to get that. The Sons and the Ronin are _not_ Stilwater, they're just some assholes that came in on a plane. I might not have been born here, but the Saints were. Julius Little, the man that started the Saints, was. And I'm not going to let his city be ruled over by some fuckers that don't know anything about this city or the people in it." There were a few cheers at that. "The Brotherhood will get one chance… they fold and all is good. I don't want to hear about any of you holding grudges… _if_ they take our offer. But first we need to get back in the game. We got you all… and that's the first step. You all answer to me, I'm the Boss, no one question that." There was a silence that followed that showed no one would dare argue that point. "Good. Gat is my second. There is also no arguing _that_. Carlos…" Alex nodded to Carlos. "You are in charge of figuring out what the other crews do and how we might hit them."

"You got it boss. I'm on it." Carlos said, fully ready to take command.

"Good. Luz…" Alex smiled as he looked over to Luz, everyone's eyes following his. "… You run the hookers and any brothels that we take. Make sure our girls get paid and stay safe."

"You don't have to worry about a thing love." Luz hummed as she began making plans.

"Shaundi, you're in charge of all drug operations, and I want you to work with Carlos on the Sons, they seem to own most of the drug trade."

"I'm cool with the first part but do I have to deal with the Sons?"

"The fuck you say?" Alex asked, it wasn't so much a demand but a real question. But one with a lot of meaning behind it.

"Nah… it's cool… I can handle it." Shaundi said backing down.

"Pierce, you are in charge of getting more people into the crew. This is a good size but we're going to need more, and until we can bust our girl Lin out of jail you're running any gambling operations we have going."

"Done." Piece answered quickly.

"That brings me to my next point. We have a lot of boys and girls locked up. Once we get established and set up, we start working on busting our OG Saints out. When we do that… the rest of Stilwater is ours for the taking." There was a loud roar of cheers at that. "Alright, once we're done here talk to Carlos for orders, I want the surrounding neighborhood in one week. Let's get shit started!" There was a cheer before everyone returned to the Canonizing which made Alex laugh a bit as he descended down the stairs. He was quickly caught by Luz and soon found himself deeply kissing her.

"Let's hurry up and find a motel to celebrate." She murmured seductively in his ear, very much hoping that he would do just that.

"Luz… I need you to start finding some pimps that would be willing to ally with us." Alex said as he carefully pulled away.

"Nooo…" Luz moaned, "… I finally have you back, I still need your touch."

"No… work first. So long as this city is not ours, my time will always be cut between fun and work."

"But… but… please… this was how it started with Angelo. I don't want it to happen to you too." Alex paused at that. She was questioning him. That wasn't supposed to happen. Not only should the strain in her body make it so she was hopelessly in love with him but she was still attached to him in the Hive Mind. She should be.

"Alex…" Alex turned around and saw Gat standing next to him. The grimace on his face was not helping his fears. "… it's starting to get painful being around you…"

"Something is happening… I need to get to the Lab. You stay here and keep calm." Gat nodded but it was really looking like he was in agony. Alex quickly went up the stairs and out of the mission house. There was only one thing that could explain what was happening, he was losing his connection to the Hive Mind even further. Luz questioning him and the worsening of Gat's desire to kill him were evidence of that. Alex hurried over to his car.

"Look out!" In a rush of gray smoke Alex was pulled down to the ground and away from a flying Blacklight tendril. Alex followed the limb of biomass back to Gat who was standing in the doorframe of the mission house, a dark look in his eyes. On top of him was the man that saved him, he was wearing a black and gray light combat armor, a rebreather mask covered the lower half of his face, and long silver hair dangled down from his head. Alex was about to push him off when the man disappeared in a breath of smoke.

"Get over here!" Alex looked back to Gat and saw him being impaled by spear-tipped chains made from asphalt.

"Okay… Protos are involved…" Alex mumbled to himself as he flipped over onto his stomach.

"Alex Mercer." Alex looked up and saw a huge black man with a military uniform and cybernetic arms looming over him. He was holding out his hand for Alex to grab, which the gang leader took.

"Thanks… so you're the new team sent to watch me?" Alex looked over to see Gat fighting three Protos, one of which was the one who had saved him. The other seemed to be the one controlling the chains and was wearing almost the exact same uniform but in yellow and black and with a hood over his head. The third looked to be wearing more casual clothes, but they were robes so not exactly normal either, and this one was fighting Gat bare-handed but still holding his own. It was clear that Gat wasn't entirely focused on the fight. Every lull he had between attacks he would try to dive out and head towards Alex and who he assumed was the commanding officer of the team.

"Yes, Proto team one. We've been given orders by the Director himself to watch you and keep you kicking… well… we also have orders that apply to that making us only able to intervene under certain conditions. You not having your Blacklight abilities counts."

"I see… why the special treatment?" Alex was happy that they were handling a crazed Gat, but everything the Illuminati did made him feel uneasy.

"Officially… no idea." The man chuckled. "But if you're asking me personally… I think the big man wants to groom Blacklight into the new Watchers of the Red Line. Blackwatch has been playing loose with the rules for a while now, and who better to protect Humanity from Viral destruction than a living and thinking virus. But that's just my theory…" They both looked back at the sound of an inhuman roar. Gat had donned his Viral armor, similar in appearance to Alex's own but also heavier and not allowing the same amount of movement. "I think you better get to that little lab of yours fast. I have two other agents keeping Mileena busy, but soon enough we won't be able to contain them."

"Yeah… thanks." Alex said before getting into his car and speeding off on to the road. The sounds of Gat fighting the Protos getting farther and farther away by the second. Soon Alex was swerving to a stop in front of the new Church. He quickly ran inside and punched in the code to get in the elevator. As he was waiting he got a call from his cell. "Dana this really…"

"Don't come down here!"

"Dana what's going on." He really didn't need any trouble down here.

"The Blacklight Constructs are going nuts, one second they were killing Atshushi's newest rampaging monster and then the next they are trying to claw and bite their way in here too! Alex what the fuck is going on?!"

"Fuck!" Alex quickly hit emergency stop button. "Put Atshushi on right now." There was a few seconds of delay.

"Alex, can you hear me?"

"My connection to the Hive Mind is weakening. It's gotten bad enough to where the Infected aren't responding right and Gat and Mileena are actively trying to kill me."

"Oh… that's not good."

"What is your best possible theory on how to get me back to normal?" Alex demanded as he paced back and forth in the elevator.

"I… I… I don't…" There was a series of papers being rustled and a few curses in Japanese. "… Okay… the best chance of success is by having a Evolved consume you. That above all else makes any Blacklight being resist, period. It has the best chance of turning your dormant cells back on… the problem is that since they are buried so far in your body, they wouldn't have enough time to awaken before you're killed. An Evolved's biomass would simply work too quickly in the whole process." The second Alex heard that his mind went into overdrive. "Not only that but with Gat and Mileena in the state they are in, I highly doubt…"

"Put Dana on the phone." Alex said, his mind still not entirely there as he finished his brainstorm.

"Oh… um… okay."

"Alex… what, you got a plan?"

"Dana… where's Tanya?"

* * *

Tanya was hanging by the ropes that had held her in the same demeaning position for the last month. During that time she had been fucked by strangers and played with by freaks. The months before had been even worse, during those she had been beaten and stabbed. Her body had naturally healed everything, so she had become a freak show to the jons that frequented the brothel.

The bastard's sister had sold her to the place for no reason other than they no longer wanted her around. Luz came around to break her down even more, but those days had thankfully become few and far between. Now she just had to deal with the men and occasional woman that would play with her. During that time she would just retreat deep inside herself and either remember better days or watch the lights. She would go back to the days of the Vice Kings. Warren and Anthony, how she missed them compared to what she had now.

Then he came… he always did. First it would be that man who gave her that power, that power that caused all of this. It was a promise that was broken, a promise for her to rule everything. Then HE came, and he ruined everything. He came from nowhere and made her kill Warren, she knew he was the one who killed Anthony too. He took everything.

"Tanya." Even now, his voice was ringing in her head like he was here. But she knew he wasn't, that was the one good thing she knew in this world. That he had gotten what was coming to him and he was trapped in his own mind. In a coma. Powerless like her. "Tanya." In anger she looked up and when she saw his face looming above her head, the tears couldn't be stopped.

"No…. no… you supposed to be in a bed drooling… not here… no…" Tanya whimpered. She felt horrible, for the past five years that felt like a century, her one comfort had been that he was as powerless as her. And yet… here he was. It tore her up, it made her feel so angry that life could be so unfair.

"Tanya… I need you to do something…"

"Go fuck yourself! I'm doing anything for you." Tanya spat out. She expected him to laugh at that, but there was silence. Next thing she knew she was dropping to the floor.

"I think you are going reconsider that when you hear what I want." She looked up at him, her eyes followed him as he crouched down to her level. Something about him felt different… and it made her feel strange, like she could take him on and win. But she knew that was impossible. He was the Alpha of the Hive, she had learned long ago that fighting him was pointless. "I need you to consume me." In the split second it took him to say that Tanya rushed at him, her body turning to Blacklight tendrils.

Had she been in her former Evolved state, or even how she was five years ago, she would have overpowered him and taken the Hive for her own. But that was not the case. Her Blacklight tendrils stretched out across his body, and began digging down into his flesh. It was painful for him, more painful than anything he had experienced in a very long time. Her tendrils weaved through his muscle tissue, hitting the tiny pockets of Blacklight cells that lay dormant.

It was then that she knew that this was a mistake. It all happened in the span of a second. His Blacklight cells within his muscles woke up at the intrusion of a hostile strain. If this had been anyone else, his own cells would have been overpowered with their limited number and weakened state. But Tanya was even weaker, years of being beaten down had taken their toll. His Blacklight cells fought back and consumed everything in their path. When she just began touching the bone marrow fifty percent of her own body had been converted into biomass for him to remake himself again. She never even made it to his brain or heart, never got close to having a chance at killing him. And then, the second passed by.

* * *

Author Notes

And now Alex has his Powers back. I feel a little bad for doing this now. I mean I feel like it might not have been worth it. That the whole plot point should have gone on a little longer but then the idea of Gat ambushing Alex was too good and I wanted to do it right then and there. I always meant for Tanya to be the key but I never figured out how to get them to really figure that out.

And a Big thanks to Dracomancer1 for Beta-ing this chapter.

Reviews

Helkil - So you finally get her, I hope you are happy. I really do.

Xalimech - Thank you and as for the Krogan, yes they are on my list of possible. And for GTA... hehehehehehe I have plans... hehehe...

rmarcno321 - PM

IAmPedobear - Don't worry, I will NEVER let this die


	24. Coming Back With A Bang

"I already told you guys, I'm fucking back to normal!" Gat yelled out while _letting_ the Proto agent push his face into the pavement. "Really, I don't feel the need to kill the boss anymore!" Moments ago, Gat had suddenly stopped feeling that screaming voice in his head telling him to kill Alex, much to his relief. He had just suddenly snapped, one moment he could no longer think of Alex as his best friend or as Boss of the Saints, just someone that needed to die then and there.

"You could just be lying to get out." Liu Kang smirked as he pushed his hand down further.

"You do know I could just shift my fucking body around your hand right?" Gat countered.

"Try." Liu Kang dared and to Gat's surprise he found he couldn't. He could feel his biomass shift around and turn more fluid but he found he couldn't move around the fingers that were holding him down. Whatever this guy could do was irritating, all through the fight he just couldn't be cut. Every time he would slash him, his claws would just move across the surface of his body, never cutting through. Granted, he hadn't been paying that much attention due to his mind being consumed with the thought of killing Alex.

"Fucking let me out!" Gat shouted.

"He does seem much more docile." Smoke said as he lowered himself down to Gat's level. "Perhaps that means Zeus is back?"

"Or it could mean Mileena got to him." Scorpion countered evenly.

"No way…" Liu Kang said looking away from his captive. "That would mean Jade failed. Her and Sub-zero… those two never fail."

"Right…" Smoke chuckled a bit. "… but Mileena is a Proto and now a Viral on top of that. If she was on par with Jade before…"

"Enough." Jax ordered to his team. "We have Johnny Gat under control. Kang… keep him down and we'll find Zeus." Jax said as he motioned for the rest of the team to get moving. Soon Liu Kang was holding Gat's back to the wall of the nearby building and waiting to hear from his team.

* * *

Sub-Zero and Jade both watched as Mileena stirred from her corner. They had been ordered to stop her from attacking Zeus but when they found her, she wasn't exactly in the state they were expecting. They found her in an alley, huddled between a dumpster and a brick wall. They had tried to get a reaction from her but every time they would get close a viral spike would shoot out from her body. Only their quick reflexes had saved them.

"Mileena… you doing okay?" Sub-Zero asked as he slowly leaned toward her. She was at first unresponsive but then turned her head over to the two other Protos.

"What do you two want?" Mileena growled out, clearly not happy to see them.

"We were sent to make sure you didn't kill Zeus…" Jade stopped talking once Mileena's Bio-claw was at her throat.

"That is not his name…" Mileena said before drawing back her taloned finger. "And for your information, you and I both know that I have dealt with voices in my head before." The two Protos nodded in understanding.

* * *

"Please forgive us Creator Haga, we await punishment for our dishonorable actions!" The lead Legionary begged as they all knelt before Atshushi and Dana, all clearly feeling the same.

"I'm not going to punish you. Alex might have if you'd actually managed to get to us, but no harm was done and we now know that even you guys can't get through that door… pretty good day if you ask me." Atshushi shrugged off.

"Apologies Creator Haga, but we as Legionaries committed dishonorable actions towards you and the Alpha's blood. We came for you with clear intent and action, we must be punished for this."

"They're not going to let this go anytime soon." Dana groaned, the scene making her increasingly uncomfortable.

"I know… but the thing is I'm not sure what to do. They have begun to develop their own culture, likely one that is being imprinted on the Legionary Construct as the days go on. Anything we do will have lasting effects for the generations of Legionaries to come."

"So, this is a good time to instill their views on punishment, that's probably why they are so insistent on it, they don't know how to work out the feeling of shame and self-disgust."

"Okay… I guess. One moment while Dana and I discuss your punishment." Atshushi said before him and Dana turned away. "Sooo… any ideas?"

"How about good old fashion pain?"

"They don't feel pain as we do, it's more like an itch that won't go away. Plus they will likely need something that leave a mark. They have begun to develop an honor code and from what I have seen, physical marks are a big part of it, scars in particular." Atshushi mused.

"Branding then?" Dana said though halfheartedly, it was clear that this whole thing made her very uneasy.

"Possibly, but in what way. It would need to be somewhere important to them. A place that they would forever remember what they had done. It could be their crests, on their shoulder…"

"Their swords." Dana said as she slightly turned back to the gathered Legionaries. Atshushi went wide eyed at the prospect of doing anything to their bone swords.

"It… could be done. Bones can be burned. But…" Atshushi looked back to the waiting Legionaries. "… I really don't want to tell them."

"Then we do this…" Dana said before turning back to the Legionaries. "… we've made a decision, but we will await the return of the Alpha to administer the punishment."

* * *

"We couldn't locate Zeus anywhere." Jax said as he and the rest of his team made it back to the parking lot outside the mission house. The Saints were still down in the hotel trying to clean the place up to the point where work could get done. Other groups were mapping out the rest of the underground district. A few people had come up but Gat yelled at them to go back before they even made it out the door. Gat was still Liu Kang's captive though.

"It is increasingly likely that Zeus has fallen." Scorpion said as he followed his commanding officer into the parking lot.

"Shame… he had tremendous potential, beyond that of his Blacklight." Smoke said slightly cryptically.

"Look, I'm telling you guys, he's not dead." Gat said to them with a glare. "I can feel him and I don't want to kill him anymore."

"Well that's just too bad." They all looked up to the ridge of the mission building and saw Alex standing right on the edge, sun shining behind him. They then watched as Alex took a step forward and dropped to the ground, his elbow landing on Gat's head and driving it into the concrete. " _That_ is for earlier." Alex said before turning to the rest of the men present. "So… you guys. You can run along, back to silently observing and reporting back to your Illuminati masters." Alex said, almost daring them to make a move. The Proto agents responded by disappearing in a cloud of gray smoke. "Yeah… expected as much." Alex smirked and turned back to Gat who was almost done reforming from the hit Alex gave him a second ago.

"Did you really have to go for the head?" Gat said as he cracked his neck back into place.

"You did…" Alex grunted as he started walking towards the mission house.

"Hey!" Gat frantically called out as he scrambled to get back up and follow Alex. "… listen man, I couldn't think straight, all I could think about was how killing you would fix everything. It would bring all our boys back, it would mean that I and Eesh could ride off into the sunset and all that shit. It got so painful to think about anything except killing you." Gat tried to defend himself as he followed Alex into the mission house.

"I know…' Alex said turning to stop him. "and I'm just giving you a hard time, but that's over. I'm back, which means everything is on track again." Alex said with a tone of finality that comforted Gat. The two continued back towards the hotel.

"So how'd you do it anyways?" Gat said as they walked through the doors.

"I let Tanya consume me, and I fought back." Alex said, putting a firmness into his statement that Gat knew to stay away continued to walk back to the gathered Saints who were working on the hotel. "Hey! I got a quick announcement to make!" Alex called out, and a few turned to see the return of their leader. None of them knew what had happened, but they all could tell something had changed in their Boss. He now walked with a predatory, dominant swagger that was clearly lacking before. "I'm going to be pulling off a jailbreak for all our boys in prison tonight. I expect two things to be done once I get back: One… this placed gets cleaned the fuck up so we can start getting to work on it properly. Two, I want all the hoods surrounding the mission house under our thumb. Got it?" There were a few murmurs of disbelief but no one actively voiced it out loud. Alex knew that it was unlikely for them to believe it possible to retake what had been core Sons territory in a single night. "You _will_ have some help. Gat, I want you on the front lines." Alex said turning to Gat.

"I'm real glad you're back boss." Gat nodded in anticipation. People also noticed a difference in Gat's behavior too. He was a lot more friendly with the Boss than before. Before, Gat would glare and his tone towards the Boss was strained. Now, they were buddy buddy like everyone had heard they acted toward each other.

* * *

Alex was currently wading through the Hive Mind as he rode down the elevator to the Church Lab. It was nice to feel its presence again, and now that he had spent five years in it consciously, he had a much better understanding of it. Each one of the lights in the Hive Mind was a person, the size of the light marked their status in the Hive's natural structure, and their location indicated their place. These were things he knew before.

His was a massive stellar light, and there were two smaller planetary orbs closely surrounding it, but there was also a small light orbiting Alex's own, this was Luz. She was attached to him, and as such orbited him. This was in contrast to the rest of the Infected that just circled the whole Hive. But… there were some that didn't follow this rule. Over near Alex was a smaller orb of light, still connected to his own but not nearly as fixed, and orbiting it were about thirty Infected lights. This was Price and his former Rollerz.

Then there were the five clusters of tightly packed lights, each a group of individuals so close to each other that they may as well not be. These were his Legionaries, and each cluster was likely the five squads of eight. Unlike the lights of the Infected or the Evolved, they didn't orbit another larger light, they were fixed to a single spot. Alex didn't like this, and he reached out to them. Shame, he felt shame coming off the lights that were the Legionary Constructs, likely from their attack on Dana and what's-his-name. Alex tried to comfort them in the Hive Mind, and at first they were surprised at Alex's presence returning to an Active state. They had never seen it happen in their entire lives, but soon they pounded him with pleas to punish them for their actions. Alex thought it over and decided to do as they asked, they did request as much after all.

Once he affirmed to them he would take action, they calmed down and let Alex return to his poking around. Alex inspected them, and found the one he was looking for, the best one out of the Hive. He reached out and felt… something… like witnessing two train cars being hooked up together. When this feeling finished, the cluster of lights moved from its fixed location into orbit around Alex's own sun.

A few minutes later when the elevator doors opened he was greeted by a sight that made him smile. Eight Legionaries kneeled before him, all of them had drastically mutated, now resembling the Sangheili Elite Honor Guard, though like before their armor was made of their own bone growths.

"Alex!" Alex looked up and saw Atshushi running up to the back line of the Honor Guard. "What did you do?! I didn't do this and that means… this… what… what… I don't know..."

"First off… I'm back." Alex said as he shifted his arm into his beloved bio-claw. "Ah… I missed that." Alex examined the talons before returning his hand to normal. "Second, this is due to me claiming them in the Hive Mind, and with this new look needs a new name, I think we will keep to the Roman theme and from now on the first Legionaries attached to an Alpha will become their Praetorian Guard." Alex said as he walked through the line of Praetorians, each stood up and turned around once Alex stepped past them.

"You're not going to walk out in the open with them following behind you, right? Even as tightly controlled as we keep information that gets out of Stilwater… the sight of these Constructs would reach the wider world at some point." Atshushi warned, but backed away when he heard growls of disapproval from the Constructs.

"Settle down!" Alex barked at the rows of Constructs. "… you have a point. Arrange for their transport to my villa. They can guard my home, I'm sure that is a fitting job for them." Alex said before walking past the scientist and towards the rest of the Constructs. He still needed to dispense the punishment. He soon came to the Legionnaire chamber, they were all crowded around the pods. But the second Alex stepped in the room they all turned to him and kneeled in line. Alex walked down and followed the assembled line of Legionnaires. "You have asked me for punishment for your actions, I personally feel that you are blameless. You responded to my loss of connection to the Hive Mind as your instinct called for, and you are requesting punishment, unneeded yet demanded. Interesting, and I do not want a culture of self-pity and doubt in your honor to fester in you. So none shall receive judgement." Alex could feel the disappointment coming off them, but they said nothing. "But, as you need some guidance in how to go about dishonorable actions, these are the rules I will set down." There was a growing relief among them. "Any among the Legions that fails in their task shall be branded on their arm. Disobeying orders, on their sword. If one of you commits the mortal sin of killing one of your own, of your own Hive, you all have permission to eat them." Alex said firmly, knowing they would have no qualms about that, they were Blacklight and an integral part of Blacklight was consumption.

"Thank you Alpha, for giving structure and helping us in our continued quest for our code." The lead Legionary said, still kneeling. Alex enjoyed that part.

"Good. Continue with your training and reflecting on the memories of those who came before you." Alex said before turning around and walking back to the main lab with his Praetorian Guard behind him.

* * *

Victor was currently sitting back on one of the benches in the prison yard surrounded by former members of Los Carnales. With the death of Hector and Angelo, Victor was the last person that they could gravitate to. He didn't mind, they at least gave the guards pause in messing with him.

But after five years he was getting restless. When he was first busted he thought that Blackwatch might show up to collect on their investment, and then it would be all over for him. Then, since no one came, he had assumed that Dana had done something on her computer and kept him off Blackwatch's radar. At the moment, he was waiting.

He was waiting because Alex Mercer had woken up days ago and was back in action, and with so many Saints locked up with him it was a guarantee that he would come calling before burning the whole place to the ground. It wouldn't be long before...

* **BOOM!***

Victor didn't even react to the sound of a nearby guard tower being blown up. He just sat up, put his arm on his leg, and waited for everyone to calm the fuck down.

"Listen up!" There he was. Victor turned his head slightly so he could see him. He was standing on the ruined tower holding a bullhorn. "I'll give you three guesses as to just who the fuck I am!" At that, every inmate cheered in recognition. "That's right… now… wait one second…" There was a second explosion at the wall separating the women's yard from the men's, then a third blowing a hole in the wall that led outside. Soon there were men and women in black uniforms with purple bandanas around their arms coming through, hurrying the escaping prisoners out of the yard and towards a waiting yacht. Victor was still waiting on the bench as everyone started running towards freedom. He watched Alex drop to the ground with a loud crash before walking over to Victor.

"About damn time you got off your ass and did something." Victor complained as Alex approached him.

"Now Victor, give him a break, he was in a coma after all." Lin said as she joined the two men. "But seriously what the fuck? You escape this dump and leave us?" Alex smiled before tossing a pack of smokes to Lin and holding out a lighter.

"We good…?" Alex asked as he lit Lin's cigarette.

"Oh yeah… we're good." Lin breathed out as she enjoyed the first smoke she'd had in years.

"Hey, don't I get anything?" Victor complained.

"A bottle of booze is waiting for you when you get back." Alex replied. "But before we start celebrating, I've restarted the Saints…. You two in?"

"Fuck yeah, I'm in. This is still our city and we never even got the chance to enjoy it." Lin said briskly before finishing off her smoke.

"You pay me and yeah." Victor shrugged as he stood up.

"Wonderful. Lin, you'll be running gambling and the money laundering and Victor you keep the protection money coming in and make sure the the boys are happy." Alex said before clapping in anticipation. "Let's go home people." The Saints boss proclaimed as he started walking back to the hole in the wall.

* * *

"Gentlemen, how was business today?" The General asked as he took another hit from his cigar. Next to him inside his custom limo was his right hand man, trusted enforcer, and adviser on the will of the Loa, Mr. Sunshine. Across from him was DJ Veteran Child. The General did not respect or even like this boy, but he brought in the money and money was the end of all things.

"Here's today's take…" Veteran Child said as he handed a roll of bills over to his adviser who handed him the roll. The General took the roll of bills in his hand, it did not feel right.

"There are many singles where fifties should be." He was not happy at this disrespect, but he knew that it did not come from the boy. No, the drug dealer was too afraid of both himself and Mr. Sunshine.

"Yeah… about that… we might have a problem." Veteran Child started off, clearly agitated by whatever news he had. "I wasn't able to collect from the red light district because someone killed all our boys there."

"Who are these thieves that steal from me?" The General demanded, his first thought was the Ronin as they had just taken Rebadeaux from them.

"Uh… that's the part that you aren't going to like. From what I heard it was the Saints." The General leaned back at this. He had heard stories of the Saints, the gang that had ruled all of Stilwater before being taken down by the police soon after winning the gang war. He had also heard that one of their prominent members had broken out of jail in the last few days.

"It would be wise to approach this with caution…" Mr. Sunshine said leaning over to him. "… These Saints are but gutter trash but their leader… the Loa are fearful of him." The General was not one for superstition, unless it came from the mouth of Mr. Sunshine. Then, he gave it great weight.

"Hey papa Shango, I'm talkin' to the General here." Veteran Child said, angry that he had been interrupted.

"On the streets you may be a popular DJ, Veteran Child…. But when you are in this car you'd do well to remember your place."

"My…" Veteran Child angrily attempted to speak further but he found himself choking, unable to look away from Mr. Sunshine's eyes. The General closed his own and looked away from the display of power.

"Yes… your place. Because here you are nothing compared to the Loa. My master Samedi rules all of us. Even the General merely leads but does not command us. You are a tool for the Loa, do not think yourself anything more."

* * *

Three weeks later, Alex's Vila.

"Okay… you are all to ignore the scary monsters and focus on gang stuff." Alex stated to the gathered leaders of the Saints. People like Gat, Carlos, Luz, and Victor who knew about Blacklight were fine with the presence of the Praetorian Guard at every corner, but they still had a few questions about them. For normal people like Lin, Shaundi, and Pierce, it raised a _lot_ of questions.

"But…" Lin started but Alex reassured her with a raised hand.

"Just ignore them. We have work to do." Alex said sternly. He didn't want to explain everything at the moment. "First off, I want reports from each of you on how things are going on your end." Alex said sitting down at the head of the table.

"So far we've taken the Red Light District from the Sons of Samedi. We've started on the projects, but the Sons so far are holding us there. We haven't made a move on the Ronin, like you ordered us to." Carlos said after standing up.

"That's right, I'm not going to piss on the shoes of people that might have ties to the Yakuza, we aren't ready to play with the big boys." Alex said as he leaned back in his chair.

"We are waiting to move on the Truckyard, that's Brotherhood territory. I did send the message that you wanted to talk to a guy I know that has contacts in the Brotherhood. We'll hear back soon." Carlos said before sitting back down and letting Luz have her turn.

"We have complete control of the Red Light District and many of the pimps are happy to see purple back in power. They made a bit of a fuss at the list of rules Alex sent them but… I don't think they'll make much noise if they know what's good for them. If they do… at least it'll be fun for us." Everyone but Alex shivered a bit at that. "So, the girls are working and we should start to see our cut soon." Luz said sitting down and turning to Lin next to her.

"We don't have the locations needed to set up gambling but the money Luz and Shaundi will be bringing in will have a place to go to get clean. We've bought a few tattoo parlors, and the TeeNay club has agreed to help us." Lin sat back down, happy with her report.

"Victor…" Alex asked. Firmly. Victor wasn't used to giving reports like this, believing that it wasn't necessary.

"Fine, people are paying us money to keep them safe and the gang is all happy." Victor said briskly and sat back down letting Pierce have his turn, though he seemed distracted still by the alien sight of the Viral Constructs.

"Uh… oh yeah, me… since taking the projects we got a buttload of new people wanting to join up. Not many are willing to drop flags though." Pierce said before returning to his seat. They all looked to Shaundi, but her eyes hadn't left the Viral Constructs.

"Okay… either I'm tripping balls or those are fucking monsters." She said, not caring that Alex had tried to shoo the issue away. "I know you said don't worry about it but… come on, that's somethin' to worry about…" Everyone turned back to Alex who sighed.

"Fine… Victor… please tell the class why you have survived a dozen VK drive-bys." Alex said turning to the former member of Los Carnales.

"I am a super solider made by the black ops organization Blackwatch, a branch of the government tasked with the keepin' super-diseases under control and, with the genetics company Gentek, finding ways to make bioweapons." The room went completely silent except for the faint twirling noise of Alex playing with the pen in his hand.

"Gat, example time." Alex hummed. Gat nodded before removing a shotgun from under the table and proceeding to blow his own head off. Lin, Pierce and Shaundi all recoiled at the sight of Gat's head vanishing into a bloody cloud. Their surprise turned to shock as his head started reforming, first the skull, then the tissue, and finally the flesh growing out of the red of his face's muscles. Even his trademark glasses came back like strange growths out of his face. "The Blacklight virus… I'm sure you've all heard of it." Alex said casually while balancing his pen on a finger. "It destroyed New York, created things thought to be the stuff of horror movies. I'm one of those things, so is Gat, and to a lesser extent Luz is too. These monsters are Blacklight Constructs, lifeforms created from either a Blacklight environment or direct experiment. Luz is an Infected, she has the Blacklight Virus in her, but it is stable and only comprises a small percent of her body. Gat is Evolved, his whole body is Blacklight. Me… I'm a natural Blacklight being. Only one in a billion people can control the Blacklight Virus like me, anyone else needs to be Evolved like Gat was. Carlos…" Alex turned to Carlos.

"Yeah boss?" Carlos had been told all this years before. Seeing the Blacklight Constructs was a bit weird but nothing he wasn't already prepared for.

"You have been with us since the beginning, and you have shown Dana and me a loyalty I know will not be misplaced…" Alex said before sliding a vial of black liquid over to Carlos. "You have earned this."

"Is that what I think it is?" Gat asked as he leaned on his fist. "You're really making the kid an Evolved."

"Yes, he's going to be the first of the Gammas, While Betas like you and Mileena are direct seconds under the Alpha, Gammas will answer to the Hive. Gammas can be attached to specific Betas and Alphas, but the majority will be unallied within their own Hive." Alex explained to Gat before turning back to the still shocked normal Humans. "The Blacklight Virus acts in a Hive Mind with a developing structure. At the moment we have one Hive, mine. With me as the Alpha, Gat and another are my Betas and answer only to me. Carlos if he wants…" Without hesitating, Carlos opened the vial and the Blacklight within quickly crept out and launched at him before seeping into his skin. Carlos fell to the ground screaming, Only Lin, Pierce, and Shaundi leapt out of their seats in concern. "Carlos is now a Gamma, _my_ Gamma." Alex entered the Hive Mind and quickly found Carlos' light forming, about a quarter the size of Gat's or Mileena's but still dwarfing the Infected or Constructs. Alex watched as Carlos' presence finished forming before reaching out and doing the same thing he did with the Legionaries. Carlos quickly accepted the pull and his light moved closer to Alex's sun, entering into orbit between Alex and the Beta lights.

"That… that was… fuck… fuck, that was fucked up." Carlos breathed out as he struggled to balance himself on his chair. "Is this what Mileena… talked about… wow…" Carlos said awestruck as he experienced the Hive Mind and the wave of acceptance that came from the minds within it.

"Are you gonna give that to us?" Pierce asked, unsure with himself about the answer he would give if Alex were to make the offer. Alex responded with a sly grin before sliding another vial over to Lin.

"If you prove that I can trust you." Alex answered with a small chuckle. "The difference with Evolved and Infected, it's a matter of free will. Evolved have much more of it. Infected are bound to the will of the Hive, and when I say that, I mean the Hive as a collective. Infected always have a sense of loyalty to their Hive, they will always be there for the other members. But again, this brings up the issue of free will, I try to keep all my Infected at the Serf Class, they still have their personality and own life goals. The only real change is that now they have total loyalty to the Hive. If I wanted, or if they were kicked out of the Hive, they would devolve into the Slave class, very little individuality and they can barely take care of themselves without Hive member to oversee them. But Evolved, they have much more freewill, they can act much more toward their own goals and plan that might not be in the best interest of the Hive."

"You all may remember Price, from the Rollerz. He's like me but not the Boss's Beta." Gat stated. "He does answer to Alex because the prick is part of the Hive but he's not in the current structure."

"He's what we call a Evolved Noble, they can pass between Hives without any feeling of commitment." Alex continued.

"Then why make them?" Lin asked as she held the vial of Blacklight.

"Because Infected can't be expected to be competent in positions of power over other Infected. Luz here is Infected…" Alex motioned to Luz who was currently in a daze, Alex feeling that it would be best to have her sit this conversation out. "… and I love parts of her, but that doesn't mean I think she's good at anything more than what she knows. Listen, Evolved are meant to act as the managers, overseers, and take other jobs that are more specialized than what Infected can do. The Alpha, Betas, and Gammas of a Hive can't always manage the numbers of Infected and Constructs that a Hive will have. We need other Evolved, which unfortunately means some politics will spring up between them. But…" At that Alex grew darkly serious. "… it will stay between them, and when I or their Alpha demand they stop fighting and pay attention, they **will** do so." Carlos and Gat felt that when he said that he was focusing on Price in the Hive Mind. "But keep in mind that any Evolved within the Structure of the Hive out ranks any Noble. A single Gamma will beat out a group of Nobles any day."

Alex finished his explanation before looking back to Pierce and Shaundi. "There is more to the Hive, but I've explained all you need to know. Me being a Viral Being doesn't mean I'm any less of a Saint. The Saints are still as much my family as the Hive is, and one day if you two have proven that I can trust you, then you'll get your own immortality in a jar as well." Lin, Pierce, and Shaundi all went wide eyed at that. "Oh… did I forget to mention that part of the deal?"

* * *

Author's Notes

Hey everyone... so Alex has got his powers back and now he's using them. So that's good. Now... this story might be moving a bit fast. I have planed out SR2 a little and i'm finding I might come up short on e the 100k per SR game. the Gangs might be taken out a little quicker than SR1 but Alex being more open about his powers might help explain that.

In completely SR/P crossover unrelated stuff, for all of you Overwatch fans... I have a question. Why the Mei hate? Everywhere I go... I see it when I read Overwatch fanfic and when talking about or youtube videos. I myself am not a player, I like the story what story it has. But I just don't understand the hate towards Mei. I just don't see it. I don't particularly enjoy her but again I just don't see why. Please try to answer my question in a logical way rather than salt.

And once again thank you to Dracomancer1 for helping with Bata.

Reviews

death444 - thank you

rmarcano321 - PM

Xalimech - thank you, and Lovecraft esc will be Ragland's thing. Alex goes for intimidating rather than straight out horror.

helkil - thank you

IAmPedobear - thank you... I've been there man and I thank you for telling me. (crying tears of joy)


	25. The Sun Is Coming Out

"Hold up…" Alex warned just as Lin was about to open the vial of Blacklight. "… You might want to wait a second before you do that." Alex said in a slightly higher pitched voice, as if there was a joke only he understood.

"Why? You didn't have any warnings for Carlos."

"That's because there's a small side effect for females who join the Hive. You see, you're going to have the sudden urge to bang me here and now." Alex shamelessly explained before continuing. "Blacklight tends to twist basic human instincts, like the need to breed." Lin raised a eyebrow at this. "As Alpha I am privy to first breeding rights, this translates to Blacklight hijacking your urges to make you see me as the only man you would have an interest in. It'd probably happen to the males of the Hive if I was female. Still, not a bad trade if you ask me."

"Well no shit you'd like this arrangement, you're the one benefitting from it." Lin shot back, not out of malice but for argument's sake.

"Any Alpha would, and someday you or Carlos might become Alphas with harems of your own. If you find someone you want for yourself, then claim them like I have with Luz." Lin looked back at the vial, Alex's asinine warning meant nothing to Lin. Alex was always nice to look at and if anything that Luz said was true, very… the words passionate and forever were used the most when she spoke of their carnal activities. Lin opened the vial and the black ooze quickly climbed out and launched itself at the nearest living thing, who reacted like any person would and screamed. She fell to the floor of Alex's living room in pain as the Blacklight penetrated her every cell. "So… how do you feel?"

"Shut… the fuck up." Lin growled as she pushed herself off the floor. She looked back up to Alex and instantly felt what he had been talking about. She did want to fuck him, really badly, more so than any other man she had ever stared at for more than a passing glance. But it wasn't love, she had never been in love before but she could tell that what she felt wasn't that. It was like she knew that no other man could ever compare to Alex now, like she couldn't be with any other because she knew there would always be something better.

"Are you ready or do you need a…" Alex wasn't able to finish that sentence.

* * *

Carlos was going over a map of Stilwater, one colored to represent the gangs' current territory. The small bit of purple surrounding by green, yellow, and red irritated Carlos. The newly made Evolved was going over new patrol routes for the Saints, the product of an effort to mix it up as much as they could to prevent drive-bys. Carlos also had to figure out just what his next move against the Sons should be.

Even with the massive boost in numbers from the jailbreak, they still lacked a fixed number as most of the boys and girls from the jail break had to lay low from the cops. They would come out if the Sons made a move but couldn't be out in the open that much. What he needed to do was cut the Sons' funding. Doing that was the best way of crippling their defenses. Much of their core gang was fanatically loyal beyond normal payment, but that wasn't the reason why Carlos needed to break their cash flow. He did that, and they would have to take the action to the Saints, where a home field advantage was a big plus. Taking their business also gave the Saints some much needed cash, the Saints having many projects that needed money to complete.

"Hey, what'ch doing?" Shaundi asked as she walked over to the _war table_ the Saints had set up in the office above the lobby of the hotel.

"Nothing much…" Carlos said as he backed up from the table. "… just makin' plans. The boss is still waiting on the Brotherhood to respond and he still doesn't want to piss off the Ronin until we know what their relationship to the Yakuza is."

"So that leaves the Sons… right. Well that provides a great opening for me…" Shaundi said as she showed Carlos a lightbulb.

"Are those the new lights for the Hotel?" Shaundi would have glared if that wasn't a valid question seeing as Carlos was in charge of upgrading the Hotel. Instead, she just smashed the lightbulb on the table casually. "… I'm guessing not?"

"Smoke this…" Shaundi said as she started lighting the drugs on the inside.

"Ever hear of a pipe?"

"Pipes cost money, money that could be used for drugs or shoes." Shaundi said before handing the lightbulb over to Carlos. Once he took a sniff of the emanating smoke he frowned.

"I don't feel anything." Carlos stated, confused to the point of this whole thing, Shaundi even more surprised.

"Don't tell me you Viral guys can't get high, 'cause that's a big deal breaker for me right there."

"Nah, the Boss says we can get sober faster but we still feel the effects. But whatever that stuff is, I don't get anything off it." Carlos explained while Shaundi just stared down at the bulb.

"Huh… weird… never heard of defective drugs… well, not like this." Shaundi said clearly confused but not that much. "Whatever, this stuff is called Loa Dust and it's the Sons' number one product."

"But you smoke it."

"They suck at marketing, what can I say? The point is this stuff is all over Stilwater U, I mean frats are buying the shit by the pound. If we get ahold of enough, we could figure out how to make it ourselves. Maybe even better."

"And take the whole market from the Sons, good idea." Carlos nodded as he thought the plan over. He was already contacting someone in the Hive with connections shady enough to acquire the needed drugs. It was strange, it wasn't like talking with words, it was like all he needed was the intent and the rest would figure itself out just how he wanted it. "The drugs will be here in about a day."

"Really? How'd… oh… that' one of those mind meld thingies isn't it. Is it weird know that everything you think someone else knows. I mean… what if you stare at some chick's ass and that chick is one of you… you'd be in some shit."

"It doesn't work like that, the way the Boss explained it and from what I've seen. None of us knows what the other is thinking. If we want, we can send out what we are feeling and us Evolved can send out orders but our thoughts are still our thoughts." Carlos tried to explain, but he really wasn't an expert on the subject.

* * *

Alex was sitting on the railing of the upper terrace of the Hotel, soon to be the Nightclub Purgatory. He like the name since it fit with the Saints' naming scheme. Purgatory would act as the public face of the Saints, while the rest of the underground neighborhood will be filled by those Saints currently wanted by the police, along with their families if they had any. Reconstruction on the neighborhood was proceeding slower than the nightclub, but moving along fast enough that Alex didn't feel worried.

"Hey man what's up?" Gat said as he walked over and soon joined Alex on the rail. "So me and the boys have been gettin' bored, what with you saying the Brotherhood and the Ronin are off the table. All we have is the Sons to murderize, and they aren't all that happy with that."

"I know…" Alex grumbled. "… Carlos told me about them staying in their drug labs and hideouts, they won't come out in force unless we make a serious move."

"Shouldn't this be fuckin' easy? We got the boys back, we got you and me, we should already be owning this city by now."

"The only reason we aren't is because I want to give the Brotherhood a chance, and right now, they're watchin' us. They want to see if we're really back or we're just a bunch of washed-up gangbangers trying to reclaim a throne we shouldn't have. So I'm guessing that they won't respond until we take out the Sons.

"And the Ronin?"

"Don't poke the dragon and the dragon won't notice you." Alex chuckled to himself. "Right now I doubt they notice us beyond our screwing with the Sons. I want to keep it that way… for now."

"But why are the Sons still fuckin' around?"

"That… I'm not sure why." Alex admitted. The two looked down to a group of Saints arguing over the placement of the stripper pole. One side thought it should be where the support beams used to be while the whole thought it should be right in the middle. "But you're right Gat, this time round we might not be having as much fun." Alex sat as he switched around and stood back up. "But have no fear, once we take Stilwater and lock shit down so we never have to do another redo, we'll be going to the mainland and taking the Saints national."

"Really? I wasn't expecting that, I thought you planned on running the Saints just so you could do whatever the hell you wanted in Stilwater." Gat said as he followed Alex off the railing.

"I did… but… when I was drowning after the Hughes' boat blew, I realized something. I want to do more." Alex said as he looked to his best friend. "I want to do whatever the hell I want yeah, that hasn't changed. But now, I want more than Stilwater, I want more than the state, country, whatever. I want the world to know the Saints, to know we're better than any gang that came before us. That what we do, we do because Julius believed that we can make a change."

"Damn… that's some deep shit."

"When I was staring in the face of death in New York, I realized how little I was doing with my life. But when that happened again here in Stilwater… I had the exact same thought, I was going to do nothing but indulge in every vice and sin I wanted. I'm still doing that, but back then it felt empty. Like that with who I am, I could do so much more. And I will." There was a small silence that followed.

"I still get to murder people right?" Gat joked, half to break the serious tone that had been created and half as a genuine question.

"Yeah man…" Alex chuckled as he gave his friend a reassuring pat on the back. "But let's go talk to Shaundi and Carlos to see what they got for the Sons." The two walked over to the _War Room_ and found Carlos, Shaundi and Victor all staring grimly at a bloody box. Alex and Gat also began staring at the box, a small pool of red forming under the corner of the cardboard container. "Uh… what's going on?" Alex asked causing the rest of the Saints to snap their attention over to him.

"Found this on the steps outside the Mission House." Victor answered. "Brought it to el enano and Shaundi was already here."

"Hey!" Carlos exclaimed at being called a runt.

"What's in it… and why can I feel it through the Hive Mind?" That last part Alex said dangerously. Carlos looked down both fear and shame.

"It's… my fault Alpha… I'm the one who asked him to do it." Carlos said apologetically but he could still feel Alex's anger. Alex walked over to the box and opened it, inside was the dismembered head of one of his Infected. Branded on his forehead was the Loa skull and snakes of the Sons of Samedi.

"What did you do?!" Alex snapped up and quickly demanded from Carlos.

"I asked someone from the Hive to get me and Shaundi a few pounds of Loa Dust, we wanted to use it to see how we might be able to make ourselves."

"Hey, don't lump me in on this." Shaundi said defensively but backed down once Alex looked over to her, his eyes piercing through. "Sorry boss… it was my idea, I brought it up to Carlos…."

"... and then he brought in the Hive." Alex finished, looking back to Carlos. "The idea was good Shaundi but the problem was that Carlos should have handled it himself. If you're worried about them spotting you as a member of the Saints, you are fully capable of Consuming anyone to get a disguise. Even better, Consume the dealer. But you brought the Hive into this, asking for information is one thing, asking them to get directly involved is a complete other!" Alex raged. "Look at him!" Alex demanded of Carlos, and being the focus of his Alpha Carlos was unable to disobey. Carlos looked up and at the decapitated head. "This is on you." Alex said before walking away with Gat following right behind him.

"Yo man, what are we going to do about this?" Gat asked as he followed his Alpha.

"I don't know, what I do want to know is how they found out that one of our Serfs was connected to the Saints. There shouldn't be a connection, that was Manuel Alcabú, and while he certainly was not living crime-free he didn't have any gang ties. So how did the Sons connect what on the surface is some random guy looking to get some Loa Dust to the Saints?"

"Maybe it looked funny that he wanted that much shit at once… but that still doesn't tell us how the fuck they got the idea to drop him here."

"All of this just feels wrong, Mileena said that the Sons felt off. Maybe this has something to do with that. But has for vengeance for Manuel, it will have to wait, we don't know exactly who did it."

"Uh… boss, I know you don't want to hear this but… something else is strange. That brand on his forehead… that was done before he was killed."

"So… that just means that whoever did this dug himself another foot into the ground."

"Nah, that's not the part I'm worried 'bout. It means he was tortured, wouldn't that set alarms off in the Hive Mind?" Alex stopped walking and his eyes widened as he understood what that meant.

"Someone can mask people in the Hive Mind. They can't disconnect them, I would have certainly felt an absence, but they were able to keep us from feeling his pain and calls for help!" Alex punched the nearby wall and caused a small crater. Gat didn't even flinch. And thankfully there weren't any Saints nearby to see their boss do something on the level of Superman. "We need to figure this shit out and fast."

"Well we know that whoever is doing this is in the Sons, so why not tear them apart until we find out who it is?"

"I like that idea… I really do." Alex smiled, but Gat could tell that there was no real joy behind it.

* * *

The General waited in his mobile headquarters outside the old meat packing plant. He was waiting for Mr. Sunshine to finish with his latest ritual to the Loa. While the General did think the rather costly and bloody events were something of a high price, he let his adviser do as he wished. It was thanks to him that the General made his name in the armed conflicts of Africa, now he was in America and he would make his fortune here and live like a king should.

To do that, he needed Mr. Sunshine. It was because of him that he had made it this far, and the General would not make the mistake of tossing such a powerful asset to the wind just because he could be costly at times.

But recently, that policy was beginning to be strained. Just yesterday he had heard from one of his men that Mr. Sunshine and his followers caught one man that apparently had a connection to the Saints. They brought him to this very place and performed one for their rituals to the Loa with him as the sacrifice. The only problem was that his men said that the poor soul had never been seen with the Saints. Still, that may not be the case as the Saints and who they had connections to weren't yet fully known. As the former rulers of the city, it was safe to assume that they had many contacts.

If this man had been a friend to the Saints, then that meant the Saints were trying to gain large amounts of their product. That was not good news. The manner of which Mr. Sunshine decided to inform the Saints of their failed attempt was also an issue. It was far too personal, and it may have had the effect of inciting the Saints into drastic measures. This all depended on how close the man was to the Saints.

And then there was the flip side to this problem. If the man they killed wasn't connected to the Saints, then they might scare off their customers. That was happening regardless, but by how much? If word got out that it was because the man was a Saint informant, then the cost would be minimal. If that didn't turn out to be the case, then people will begin to see going to their dealers as a risk to their health. Word would get around that to go to the Sons dealers was taking a gamble, that they might bag you up and take you to be tortured and killed.

"I am here General." Mr. Sunshine said as he entered the car. There was small bits of flesh, bone, and blood in the small corners of his suit. Never enough for anyone to see but the General who knew where to look for. "You seem troubled?"

"Your actions towards the Saints yesterday, I feel they might have been a bit aggressive." Mr. Sunshine looked to the General, it was that strange look he gave when he was studying the person in front of him, like he wasn't deciding for himself what he was going to do but just gathering information for someone that was.

"Do not worry General, this is war. You know as well as I do… war is a nightmare." The General stared back at his adviser. He sighed.

"I guess you're right, but we need to remain cautious." The General finished the conversation feeling that it was good to work out things out in such a productive manner, now if only the same could be said about the rest of his problems.

* * *

"Okay… I've had a day to cool down." Alex said with his feet kicked up on the desk in the War Room. Gat, Carlos and Shaundi had been called together to discuss just what they could do to move forward on the Sons. Carlos had gotten a bit of credit back by doing as Alex suggested and consuming a Sons dealer before bringing back all the Loa Dust he had. "After the whole mess Carlos made…" He got back _some_ credit, not all. "… I went home to calm down. Fucked Luz for a while, then had lunch. Three pizzas and four plates of pasta with various sauces… it was Italian night. Then got high with Dana… and ate five calzones. Then fucked Luz again. Then ate dinner, a lot more Italian food, then got high, but this time by myself while watching Bob Ross… holy fuck that guy is awesome."

"I know right." Shaundi nodded in agreement.

"Then went to bed… fucked with both Luz and Mileena, then slept until forty minutes ago, and now I'm here… so I'm as calm as I'm going to get." Alex sighed. "Loa Dust… gimmie." Alex held out his hand for someone to pass him a lightbulb. Shaundi did so quickly and Alex soon smashed it open and let her light it. Alex brought the lightbulb up to his face and then frowned. "This is shit… I get higher off weak-ass pot." Alex said before hurling the lightbulb across the room.

"Carlos said it didn't work on him either when I showed it to him yesterday." Shaundi said, all but confirming that it was because they were both Blacklight.

"Huh… okay… there is so much wrong with the Sons." Alex said, rocking back and forth in his chair. "Something is going on with them. I really hope that it isn't some Blacklight shit that I'm not in control of. I don't need another Tanya situation."

"To be fair man, she did end up saving your life." Gat had to say it. He might not have liked Tanya in any sense but he had to say it.

"I know, which is why when I become crime boss of the world I'll name something after her. A bathroom maybe… no, a fuck room feels more appropriate, but not mine, no…. someone else's." Interrupting the meeting about the Sons was the sound of Carlos' phone. They all looked at him and he reluctantly took it out, he was going to decline but answered when he saw the number.

"Listen man… no… I need to call back la… oh... no way… okay… yeah I owe you one." Carlos said slightly irritated before hanging up. "That uh… was my buddy with the Brotherhood contact. He says Maero wants to speak with you."

"Rrrgh…. the time could be better. I was expecting them to contact us after we took out the Sons."

"My buddy says that Maero will be at the Stilwater caverns in two hours."

"Fuck." Alex grunted, sitting back proper in his chair. "Okay, get the boys ready. If things go to shit I want people ready for an attack from the truckyards or Chinatown. Hopefully it won't come to that and they'll just fold but considering how early this is I doubt it." Alex said as he sat up. "Gat, I want you in the Projects and Victor in the Red Light district. Carlos, since this is your contact you're coming with me. Shaundi, find someone that can figure the fuck out how to make this Loa Dust stuff. If they can find out why it doesn't effect Virals, great, but don't tell them that." Alex finished his orders and walked out of the War Room with Carlos following behind.

* * *

"Are you sure she can help us?" Lin asked as they waited for the door to open. She and Shaundi were in the suburbs of Stilwater waiting for a woman that Shaundi claimed to have met in prison who would be able to find out what was in Loa Dust. Lin had tagged along simply because she was bored. All of her contacts in the underground gambling world weren't talking until the Saints had more to put up than what they currently had. So Lin was bored.

"Oh yeah, she might not look like it but trust me, she's one of the most ruthless dealers out there." Shaundi said with a smile. And then the door opened and the most soccer mom looking woman Lin had ever seen. "Laura!" Shaundi exclaimed happily with open arms.

"Shaundi? Well isn't is a nice surprise!" The woman sounded so white it wasn't even funny. "What are you doing around here, not that it isn't nice to see my old cellmate."

"I came by a month ago, but Toby said you were still in jail."

"Oh that, apparently trying to poison the warden with homemade cookies adds on years. But then I escaped along with everyone else."

"You're welcome by the way." Lin said, not wanting to let Alex's actions go unappreciated.

"Yes, I know, the break out was meant for you Saints but your boss was just so gosh darn generous and let me come on board." Not everyone that Alex freed had been Saints, but Alex also didn't save everyone either. All the rapists and child molesters were found mutilated in their cells by the cops when they arrived on the scene. "If you could give me his address later I'd appreciate it. It would be super to send him a homemade cake as a thank you."

* * *

"Carlos… remind me why we're in a cave?" Alex asked as the two of them walked down the footpath in the Stilwater caverns. It was not what Alex had been expecting, he was hoping for a cool remote cave carved out by smugglers… but what he got was a shitty tourist trap.

"Because Maero wanted to meet here." Carlos said confused at the question.

"Yes I know that… but why did the meeting have been in a cave? Why couldn't it be while we got lap dances, or a nice restaurant, or while getting lap dances, that last one sounded good." They continued walking down the path until they came to the end and found a man sitting on one of the benches. From his body Alex knew it was Maero, it was impossible to not recognize someone that large. "You Maero?" Alex asked casually as he approached.

"That's right." Maero responded, his voice slightly deep but it felt like Maero might be trying to keep it higher than it could go. Alex smirked as he half-circled Maero.

"I have to say… not very smart of you to show up without a crew to back you up."

"I don't need one." Maero answered back. There wasn't a hint of smugness, just stating a fact.

"I have to disagree with you on that…" Alex said as he pulled his gun on Maero's head. "… because a crew could really help you out right now." Both parties knew that there was no real threat, just testing the waters.

"No…" Maero said standing up displaying his full height. "… I think I'd do fine on my own." Alex smirked again and put away his gun.

"I like you… I think we might do well together. But you want something, what is it?"

"Listen… I'm not stupid. I know the rumors, the legend, and even some of the truth about Alex Mercer. I'm not looking forward to fighting someone like you. Not when I've got the Sons breathing down my neck and the Saints coming back full force." Maero explained as he walked around Alex.

"So far you haven't said anything that raises a red flag for me." Alex said agreeably, but he already could tell Maero had no plans of folding… yet. Alex had said he would give one chance, but that was one chance to fuck things up, and so far Maero hadn't. Even if he declined to fold now, so long as he didn't make Alex think he would never fold, Maero got to live.

"Here's what I'm thinking… we divide Stil…" Alex did like where that was going.

"I hear voices!" Saved by the cops.

* * *

"Wow… that is a lot of cops they are killing." Liu Kang said in shock and more than a bit of disgust as he watched Zeus, one of his Virals, and a very large human mow through wave after wave of law enforcement on their way to the nearby docks.

"Should we stop them?" Jade asked as she turned to their commanding officer.

"I want to say yes… but we have orders not to stop Zeus from… his less than moral activities."

"I thought that meant his drug use and killing of criminals." Sub-Zero asked.

"It… unfortunately covers a lot."

* * *

Alex walked through the docks that made up the Brotherhood headquarters. All around them were men and a few women tattooed to the brim, all with large trucks that Alex could swear might be compensating for something for a few of them.

"So here we are…" Maero said showing off his place.

"Jesus it's like a coked-up sideshow…" Alex thought that was a bit funny considering the two of them were more freak than any of these people. But Maero seemed to take the comment in stride.

"Pretty impressive huh?"

"Aren't you worried about being so in the open?" Alex asked genuinely curious.

"People know to stay away." Maero said matter-of-factly as they approached the warehouse he had been leading them too. They were just about to enter when they heard a scream and a woman came out running. "Babe, what's going on?" Maero asked the woman quickly with real concern on his face. Alex took note for later if things didn't turn out so well.

"It's Rex, he found out about you meeting the Saints, he's pissed and throwing things again…" It was only then she noticed the two men wearing purple, a quick glare was all she gave but Alex didn't hold it by her. The Saints were simply the cause of her current issues and she most likely did not hold anything personal against the Saints.

"I'll handle him, you stay out here and stay safe." Maero reassured her and then went inside. Alex and Carlos chose to stay out.

"Soo…" Alex said turning to the woman. "… I see we might not be well received by all in the Brotherhood." Alex needed to know just what he was dealing with.

"You could say that." She admitted. "I'm Jessica, right now Maero's right hand man is throwing a hissy fit because of you two. Apparently he thinks we don't need to make deals with you, but Maero thinks otherwise. And I agree, I saw what Julius was trying to do around here after you helped him take control from Hector and Angelo, the return of the Saints can only be good."

"Well thanks, I'll try to live up to Julius' memory." There was no humor or joke in Alex's words. He understood that Julius meant a lot to people in Stilwater, he had known that even before Carlos brought it up, and Alex would never forget the way Julius had impacted people's lives.

"See that…" She was interrupted by a large dent being made in the nearby garage door.

"Someone is mad." Alex sang out returning to a carefree mood once again. The three watched as the door opened and got stuck on the dent, but the opening was tall enough for a skinny, almost sickly man to crawl out. The man soon began breathing heavily, like there was something wrong with his ability to do so. After trying to catch his breath he noticed Alex and Carlos and quickly limped over to them. The whole thing just made Alex want to Evolve him for pity's sake alone.

"You two…" The man was a complete opposite of Maero in every way, even down to his squeaky voice. "We don't need you. We're in charge of Stilwater, so just go away!"

"Rex… you need to calm down." Jessica said trying to help the situation.

"I'm sorry…" Alex chuckled though he tried not to. "… but how the fuck did he not die when Maero threw him into the door?" Alex was genuinely sorry for asking.

"I'm much more durable then I look." He said this but his body swayed slightly and his voice wheezed a bit.

"Yeah…" Alex dragged out. At that point Maero returned to the group through the side door.

"Rex!" Maero called out as he stormed over to them. "Listen, I understand that you have some objections to the Saints…"

"It's not just me! I know that the boys know we don't need the Saints." Alex frowned at that. Did that mean that all of the Brotherhood was against the talks or just parts, either way it complicated things.

"Rex… all we're doing is talking to the Saints." Jessica tried.

"No! I'm not gonna stand here and let you two ruin the Brotherhood!" Rex called out as he pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Alex's head. Alex just grinned while everyone around them tensed up.

"Rex… this isn't a good idea." Maero warned.

"But it is…" Alex countered before leaning in on the barrel of the gun. "… go ahead… strike me down and I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine." Carlos groaned at the quote, Alex was having the wrong kind of fun. Everyone stared at the scene while Rex's hands began to shake. "Do It!" Alex demanded, but nothing happened… and soon Rex dropped the gun before dropping to the ground himself. "And here I thought he had more balls."

"Are you out of your mind?! What if he had gone through with it?!" Jessica demanded as she knelt down to help Rex.

"It would have made my day slightly more irritating." Alex said before focusing on Maero. "I think we both know that he was far more right about the gang than you want him to be." Maero frowned but didn't respond. "I came here with one goal in mind: to convince you to fold and join the Saints. You get this opportunity because you are Stilwater, and you held down the fort against the Sons and the Ronin. But this chance is a one time deal, and I'm not accepting an answer until we take down the Sons. I want you to understand something, the Saints are back… and we _have_ come for what is ours."

* * *

Reviews.

LORD DESTRYUK - This story will go to SR3 but not to Steelport, I have another location all set up... but don't worry, killbane will still get massively punched in the face by Alex.

Helkil - I will be doing more BL centered chapters in the future but for now its gang stuff.

IAmPedobear - please do not use coke, pot and shrooms are perfectly fine but please don't use the hard stuff. But thank you once again for your kind words.

Xalimech - Grimm are more line with what Alex does but not only do I need inspiration for the Blacklight Constructs but I need their function. Keep that in mind as well, and thank you.


	26. Purgatory

**Three Weeks Since the Meeting with the Brotherhood.**

"Are you all ready to party!?" Alex called out to the waiting crowd of Saints and their guests. The Hotel had been completely renovated into the Nightclub Purgatory, and right now it was filled with people dressed in their clubbing clothes, either in the lobby, now the main dance floor, or standing on one of the side terraces that lead to the side dance floors. Every surface was colored in Saints purple, white, and black, the décor modern and classy with just a hint of religious themes, albeit twisted to suit the Saints. Of this, there was no better example than the statue that stood behind Alex: the dubbed Saint of all Saints, a voluptuous female angel with short shorts, halter top emblazoned with a fleur-de-lis, and wielding two pistols.

The crowd cheered in response to the Boss's exclamation, all of them ready to celebrate the finishing of their club. But most were also happy at the chance to party. That was just the kind of people that tended to join the Saints.

"Then let's get this shit started!" Dana called out from her DJ booth, and the crowd cheered as the lights dimmed and a laser light show of purple and white started alongside the club music. Alex watched with great satisfaction at the crowd of dancing Saints as he took a sip from his drink.

"Nice place you got here." Alex smiled as he turned around to see Price with Donnie walking down the stairs to Alex's level. "But you could have called my company, we'd have done the whole thing with thirty percent off."

"If I had asked, you'd have done it for free." Alex chided as he shook his glass of whisky. " _I_ am still your Alpha." Alex looked over to Donnie. "Donnie… I've heard much about you." Alex said as he extended a hand to the man beside Price.

"And I've heard a lot about you Mr. Mercer." Donnie said as he shook the offered hand. But when he tried to let go Alex won't let him.

"Oh Joey boy… you shouldn't have done that." Alex said, turning to Price with a vicious smile. Donnie tried pulling away from Alex's iron grip. "Infected are one thing, but to make your own Evolved… _that_ is the sole privilege of the Alpha."

"Price… he's hurting…" Donnie said as he fell to the floor on his knees.

"Now Mercer, we wouldn't want to make a scene here at the opening night of your new club would we?" Price tried to sound sure of himself but that was hard to do with Alex. Not only was he still his Alpha, which had a great effect on Price, but Alex was just scary plain and simple.

"That's where you're wrong. I could shoot the two of you here and now, and no one would care. This is a Saints Club first and foremost. Maybe some of the non-Saints would call the cops but they would be stopped by either a Saint or Dana. The only reason I haven't done something is because it wouldn't do anything to you and that would be a waste." Alex let go of Donnie and stopped focusing on him in the Hive Mind. "Follow me. Now." Alex said before he started walking off to the office that used to be the War Room, which had moved to the new Saints Headquarters further into the underground. Price and Donnie followed Alex into the overviewing office, the windows having been tinted and sound-proofed so no one was going to be hearing or seeing what was going on.

"Listen, I know you're pissed but…" Price stopped talking once he was hit with a black tendril that Alex had shot out the second he closed the door.

"Price!" Donnie called out as he went to his friend only to have a similar tendril impale him as well. The two of them were pushed back to the wall where they were pinned up like hunting trophies. They weren't killed by the act, but it was by no means painless.

" **I** am the Alpha! That means only **I** can make Evolved!" Alex yelled as he walked closer to the impaled two. "Donnie, I personally don't care you are in the Hive. You're Price's childhood friend and as such he is perfectly within his rights in the pecking order to make you an Infected and claim you. But what I can not allow is for anyone but me to make Evolved. That goes for everyone, If Gat made Aisha an Evolved I would be giving them a similar talking to. More than likely, I would not be using pain to make my point though." Alex then dropped Donnie but kept Price up on the wall, his face pressed to the wall thus preventing him from talking.

"Alex… please…" Alex quickly shut Donnie up by grabbing his face with his now free hand.

"Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie… I'm not going to kill you. You're family now. To be exact you're part of Price's family, but Price is part of mine. You will not have to pay for his mistake. He won't die either, he likely thought I would never recover from my coma and came to believe the rules didn't apply anymore." Alex said, looking back to Price before then detaching him from the impaling Blacklight spike. "So let's talk…" Alex said dropping Donnie and walking over to the office's desk. "You are now Evolved, immortality is yours to enjoy… now what?" Alex asked, knowing the answer before it was given.

"Uh… I might have heard that Lin got out of jail…" Donnie said reluctantly, clearly still shaken up by the last five minutes and the rapid change in topics.

"Before you finish, No… and there are several reasons too." Alex said as he sat down in the desk chair. "First off… She is my Gamma, as such she is mine." Alex might have put a little too much possessive tone to that, but the point had to be made. "If she wants to start something with anyone else then that's her business but as her Alpha… there will never be anyone that could compare in her mind." Alex could feel the anger building in Donnie.

"So?! That's just what you think! I've seen guys like you before, so sure of yourself, thinking that you're perfect…"

"Hey… I'm both perfect and imperfect all at the same time." Alex interrupted. "This isn't my opinion, this is what Lin thinks. Secondly, you may be an Evolved but you're just an Evolved Noble. Lin is above your station, she's a Gamma. It's like how the royal family is above the commoners. And lastly… whatever you think you two had was fake… a cover so that she could get in with the Rollerz."

"I want to hear it from her." Donnie demanded defiantly. Alex sighed and pressed a button on the intercom.

"Yeah, what is it boss?" Lin's voice certainly had an effect on Donnie.

"Donnie has proclaimed his love for you." Alex said in an almost serious tone. Though the other side of that tone was clearly annoyed. "I have told him of the situation, but he refuses to accept reality and wants to hear it from you." There was a quiet that followed Alex speaking.

"Who the fuck is Donnie?" Lin answered and Alex couldn't hold back the laughter.

"Fucking goddamn! That is cold!" Alex howled in laughter. "Fuck! She doesn't even remember you. Lin! Donnie is that dude you saved to get in with Sharp."

"You mean the pissant that stood by while I bled out? How the fuck does he think we have somethin' going on?" Alex was on the floor at this point and Donnie was as pale as a ghost.

* * *

Two days later

Alex was going over the numbers of the club, it was doing really well. People were having fun and he was making money. Everything was perfect. Alex heard the door open, hoping that it wasn't some problem that would ruin his good mood.

"Hey boss." Carlos said as he came in with Shaundi and a woman he had a vague memory of. "This is Laura, she's figured out how to make the Loa Dust." Carlos said as he sat in front of Alex's desk.

"Is that so… so anything special in it?" Alex asked Laura as she came over with Shaundi.

"Well I won't bore you with the details dear, I'll give then to Shaundi before I leave." Alex already could tell that he really wanted this woman's pie recipe collection. "But I can tell you that there is some very good pot in there."

"That's all… that doesn't answer some of the questions I have about the stuff. But if we can make it and sell it for less than the Sons then who gives a fuck." Alex sighed before spinning himself in his chair in mock celebration.

"Now all we need to do is stop the Sons from making any more, keep on bleeding them dry." Carlos said trying to get them back on track.

"The chem side should be easy to track down, shipping records and finding the Sons' shell corporations." Alex said as he leaned back thinking over the issue. "Just follow the money, but the pot. That they can produce all on their own. They can even grow it locally."

"Oh fuck…" Shaundi mumbled to herself as she remembered something. "… I'm an idiot."

"Something you'd like to share?" Alex asked, expecting this to be good but late news.

"I may have dated this guy in college who would sell for the Sons, and he mentioned that they used to grow all their shit on a farm off campus." Shaundi admitted.

"And this is coming up now why?" Alex wasn't really that mad, just amused.

"I forgot…"

"You're right, you are an idiot, but a loveable hippy idiot so I'll let it slide…" Alex waved off before turning to Carlos. "We have a sudden need for pot, and the Sons already set up a place to make it. I want that farm by the weekend." Carlos nodded and stood up to make the calls telling the Saints to start prepping for a takeover. Alex then turned to Laura. "Thank you for all your hard work, in payment I will have my sister digitally ruin the bitch of your choice on the Stilwater PTA."

"Well that just sounds delightful! Thank you very much."

* * *

"Carefully… carefully… a little to the left… there! Stop!" Atshushi called out to the Legionaries who were handling the glass case that the former Blackwatch scientist was so concerned about. "There… just gently place it down… there you go." Atshushi said, watching his newest specimen prudently as the case containing it was lowered onto the examination table.

"Creator, what is the importance of this small creature?" One of the Legionaries not carrying the glass box asked. They had begun to get curious in the last few weeks, usually to answer questions that the memories given to them couldn't answer. They mostly asked him and either one of the new Gammas, due to the fact if Alex or one of the Betas came around they would be too busy kneeling to ask. Atshushi attributed this to a variation of puberty, them seeking out what they didn't understand, minus the rebellious aspect as both their biology and developing culture would not allow for it. So they asked questions... a lot of them at times.

"This! Is the Assassin Bug, scientifically named the Reduviidae. It is a insect with an interesting feeding method. It uses a long rostrum to inject a lethal saliva that liquefies the insides of the unfortunate insect they happen to catch, they then suck out the insides. The saliva contains enzymes that digest the tissues they swallow, thus providing the nutrients the Reduviidae needs."

"What use is this dishonorable bug to you." Another Legionary asked, Atshushi wasn't surprised that they thought poorly of the ambush style of attack. As creatures meant for frontline attack and honorable combat, the idea of hiding in ambush attacks would be frowned upon.

"I need it for a new stealth unit for the Hive, and I decided that the Reduviidae's method of feeding would also be a excellent means of disposal of the body as my Blacklight Constructs are unable to consume due to a hardened cell structure. I could have used one of the many strains, but I can only do so much with the potential of human DNA. Sometimes you just need to go back to mother nature to find what you need."

* * *

"No… dad… no you don't need to come back to Stilwater… no… Alex is doing just fine… no he's not in jail anymore….yes he broke out… yes I know… dad… dad… he would kill you if you came… no I care that… okay _that_ was unnecessary… I'm hanging up now and if you come to Stilwater I'm writing a bad review for your next book on every review site." Dana said before hanging up on her father and sighing out loud. "Dad might be coming back." She turned to her brother who was laying back in his own pool chair.

"I _will_ kill him if he does." Alex said, not moving from his spot. He was relaxing by his pool and he was not going to let his father ruin that. "So did you find the Sons shipments of the chemical components for their Loa Dust?"

"Yeah, they figured out a neat way to get them through onto the island, hiding them in fish. They buy these big-ass fish, then stuff them full of bags and bottles of the needed chemicals."

"Smart idea… might steal that too." Alex smirked as he nodded at the prospect of taking even more from the Sons. The two siblings continued their sunbathing for a while until it was Alex's turn to get a call. "Ugh… what?" Alex said answering his phone. "Whoa… calm the fuck down… what do you mean it happened again?"

"Alex?" Dana asked anxiously since there were a number of things that could be disastrous if they happened again.

"… Well just get the… remains stashed away and we'll make arrangements for the families. We'll handle the farm ourselves… and by that I mean we're killing everything standing in our way!" Alex roared into the phone before hanging up. "All of them… the whole crew we set up to take over the farm… all of them were killed." Alex explained to his sister not looking at her and not entirely explaining to her but more just stating it for himself.

"What?! How is that possible. You only made that plan yesterday."

"That's not the scary part. All of them were found at Purgatory's mission house. Their heads were resting on the pews, and all of them were branded with the same Loa symbol on their forehead."

"Just like that Infected Carlos sent to get the Loa Dust."

"Yeah… something is going on. But we now know that it wasn't because Manuel was Infected, it was because he had a tie to the Saints. The question is how did they _know_ he had a tie to the Saints? He never did before, but now we got a second occurrence with the Saints as the clear targets."

"Alex… something about this just feels wrong."

"Yeah…" Alex said absentmindedly before snapping his fingers. Mileena quickly responded and dropped down from the roof of the Villa. "I need you to investigate the Sons of Samedi, be sure to be as careful as you can be." Alex ordered to his Beta. "And be careful, they were able to mask Manuel from the Hive Mind. I doubt I would miss my Beta being masked but still." Mileena nodded and jumped back to the roof of the Villa and the glided off toward Sons territory.

"Must be nice having your own Super Ninja." Dana joked before returning to her sunbathing.

* * *

"This was not your fuck up." Alex said as a Saints loaded a dismembered head into a box to be sent to funeral house. Alex thought that in addition to the already infuriating insult of killing his men, the act of not even giving the families a full body was just cruel. To just give the head, on paper it sound preferable to just the body, but it wasn't. It reminded people just how small they were, that this small piece of meat was what held what we as people were. It seemed cruel to Alex to just have so little of someone you knew

"How am I not responsible for this!?" Carlos demanded. "This is the second time my orders have resulted in this shit!" Alex quickly glared down his Gamma.

"First off, Manuel never signed up for either the Hive or the Saints. He was just a bystander that got caught up in all this because Tanya wanted free food one day. Second, we had no way of knowing that the Sons could do what they did to Manuel on this scale and this quickly."

"But… it was still my…"

"Carlos… everyone in the Saints knows that they can die any day, whether it's in some drive-by or a fight for a neighborhood. But they are still Saints because they know we're fighting for our city! They're fighting for Julius' dream of a gang that helps the people it comes from of instead of just oppressing them. When something goes wrong and it's your fault, I will call you out, but **only** when you fuck up." Alex said before returning to the sight of the killed Saints. "I've decided that from now on any attack on the Sons will either be directly and personally handled by myself or Gat. When we take a 'hood from them it will be done with us on the battlefield. As for the farm… I'm letting the Hive handle it."

"You don't mean…"

"Yes… I do."

* * *

Several Sons of Samedi members waited outside the gates to their private farm. They were on the lookout for either the Brotherhood or the Saints, but a few of them had heard that the Saints recently got their asses handed to them by Mr. Sunshine for even trying to gather men to take the farm.

It was just the kind of thing many of them expected out of Mr. Sunshine, because while many of them feared the priest of the Loa, they all knew that with him on their side the gangs of Stilwater would have no chance against them.

At the moment, there were five guards at the front gate. Two were trying to look intimidating with their machetes, one was playing on her phone, and two others were passing a blunt between them. They all stopped what they were doing when three garbage trucks rolled over and stopped in front of the gate. Three of the Sons weren't stoned and knew that this was likely a attack while the two that were stoned were confused.

The backs of the garbage trucks opened and the Sons were prepared to fight some Saints. They all had heard the story of how the Saints had used a delivery truck to ambush the Carnales, but instead of Saints or even humans, what came out of the trucks were monsters. Out from the middle truck jumped four large creatures who viciously impaled four of the guards with the bone swords that shot out of their arms. The final guard was quickly killed by a bone barb cutting through his head, slicing it into thirds.

The Legionaries all filed out of their transports and quickly took up a perimeter line at the gate. Those that could do so without compromising the integrity of the defensive line kneeled as their Alpha stepped out of the middle truck with his new bio-gun fully formed on his right arm.

It had the same shape as the bio-guns that the Legionaries used, only with the color changed from flesh and bio-luminescent blue to Alex's normal black and red with the bio-luminescent parts of the gun orange. The changes also included a web of Blacklight tendrils connecting the gun to the center of in his hand, to his arm, and further to his shoulder.

"Alright! Let's take this place with minimal loss of property. I want to be able to use it once we clear it out." They all saluted and the Legionary squads quickly moved out ,leaving Alex and his Praetorian Guard squad to cover the main gate. Alex watched as the Blacklight Constructs moved through the farm quietly, all of them trained to perfection and acting perfectly in sync with each other. He smiled as he brought up his phone to his ear. "Gat? You ready at the other entrance."

"Oh yeah, any of these fuckers try to leave the bloodbath I'll be ready. But I gotta say, kinda hoping they do." Gat chuckled into the phone.

"Don't worry, we'll get some murdering in soon enough."

"Yeah, that asshole that keeps killing our boys." Gat growled, just as pissed as Alex was.

"This Mr. Sunshine, I have Mileena looking into him and the Sons at large. I've been keeping a close eye on her in the Hive Mind and so far everything seems normal. Still, I'm not taking any chances."

"I wouldn't worry about that girl, she's just as much a crazy bitch as any Saint is." Gat joked before the two hung up and returned to taking the farm.

* * *

"Everybody get out!" Mr. Sunshine called as he and the General entered the record shop. They had come to ask Veteran Child a simple question, whether he had the mental capacity to answer it was to be seen. To Mr. Sunshine's irritation no one in the shop paid him any mind… until he killed one of the customers with his machete. Then they all ran out screaming, as was proper.

"What's… uh… what's up guys?" Veteran Child asked nervously. Good, he would be easy to crack once again.

"The Saints took my farm… every attempt to reclaim it has resulted in failure." The General informed the brat. Mr. Sunshine meanwhile was scaring off the last person left in the shop other than the three.

"That's some shitty luck." Veteran Child said trying to distance himself as far from the problem as he could.

"What I don't understand is why this happened in the first place." The General asked calmly as he paced in front of the boy. "The Farm is one of our most prized resources, as well as our most secret."

"Well how'd they find out then." The boy said, not realizing he was digging his own grave.

"Why don't you tell me?" The General asked as Mr. Sunshine drew closer.

"I don't know wh…

"Stop lying."

"Dude, I said I don't…" Mr. Sunshine quickly grabbed ahold of the brat's neck and lifted him to the wall.

"And he said, stop. Lying." Mr. Sunshine said getting even closer with his blade right behind.

"I'm tellin' you the truth man, I don't know how they found out…" Veteran Child pleaded.

"Then you aren't very useful to me…" The General waved off the pleas of the boy. But Mr. Sunshine knew more, the Loa told him that this brat knew more than he thought, all he needed was the encouragement to dig a little deeper. And that is what the sound of metal running harmlessly across flesh was for. Itself harmless, but what it could turn into not so much.

"I don't know how they found out… but I got some ideas…" There it was… people always knew more than they thought they did.

"Enlighten us." The General said turning back to the boy.

"I used to date this bitch Shaundi… and there's a chance, and I mean a small fuckin' chance… that I might have gotten stoned and told her about the Farm."

"Where is this Shaundi?" The General demanded.

"Word is she rolls with the Saints now…" That was not the right answer, so pain was required. Mr. Sunshine pushed the boy back and placed his machete to his neck.

"Let him go…" Mr. Sunshine looked back to the General… and then released the boy only when the Loa confirmed that it was what needed to be done. "Veteran Child, you will go kill this Shaundi… if you fail to do this, Mr. Sunshine will burn you alive. Does this sound fair?"

"Uh…"

"Excellent… let us be on our way." The General said as he and Mr. Sunshine walked out of the store leaving the distressed boy alone with his fears. The two entered the limo and were soon back on the road. "Make sure to prepare a true attack once he fails in his task." The General stated as they sat back in their spots.

"Of course General."

"Do not think you are above blame in the loss of the Farm. You assured me that the Saints crew that had gathered to take it were they themselves taken care of."

"They were, General, the Saints used something else to take the Farm… something even the Loa fear, something they can neither see nor foretell the actions of." Mr. Sunshine spoke the truth. The Loa _did_ tell him of the names and faces of those wishing to bring harm to the Farm and he _did_ take care of them. But when the Farm was taken, the Loa called out in confusion and hate. They did not like being tricked and disobeyed.

"I cannot accept that… the loss of the Farm is as much your fault as it is the boy's. He may have given the secret of the farm away, but it was you that failed to protect it." This was not good, The General was drifting from the Loa.

"But General, loss is a part of war… after all… War is a Nightmare."

"I understand my friend… the loss of the farm has simply clouded my mind. Let us focus on more important matters."

* * *

"Sooo… this dumbass thought he could sneak into Purgatory and kidnap you?" Alex asked turning to Shaundi from the tied up stoner that apparently was her ex-boyfriend that told her about the farm.

"Yeah… either he's stupider than I remembered or something made him try a death by Saint." Shaundi said as she leaned down to try to poke Veteran Child awake. "Man… he's still as useless as I remember though."

"What should we do with him? I kind of like his radio station so I would prefer not to kill him if we didn't have to." Alex sighed.

"He did try to kill me boss."

"I don't count that against him, his plan was so dumb it bordered on suicide. More than likely he subconsciously wanted to get caught." Alex explained before he smacked Veteran Child awake.

"What?! What's… oh fuck…" Veteran Child said as he noticed the abundance of purple in the office he was tied down in.

"Oh fuck indeed… care to tell me why you came here to kill Shaundi?" Alex asked as he circled the DJ.

"F-fuck you man!" Veteran Child stuttered nervously, clearly starting to get the idea of who he was talking to. "Just kill me already, it's a hell of a lot better than what they'll do if you don't."

"Are they planning on killing you with butter, a hundred sticks of dynamite, and a raccoon? Because I've been wanting to try that idea out for a long ass time." Alex chuckled crazily as he stopped in front of his prisoner.

"Oh man… you're just as bad as they are… alright, alright! I'll tell you everything if you just don't let Mr. Sunshine take me!"

"Mr. Sunshine?" Shaundi said like he was joking.

"What do you know about him?" Alex asked, completely serious.

"What? This sunshine guy is real? You're kidding."

"I don't know where he came from, but he and the General go way back. And every time he does something that would get anyone else on the General's shit list, nothing happens. He keeps taking people off the street and they aren't heard from again." All of these things didn't paint a very good picture for Alex, but at the same time… it didn't answer questions about the Sons. All it said was that Mr. Sunshine was likely a man from war-torn Africa, likely with history as a killer and torturer with a focus on the religious worship of the Loa pantheon. "And he does this freaky shit where he can choke you Vader style just by lookin' at you." That… caught Alex's attention.

"I'm guessing he actually did that to you?" Alex asked giving his full attention to the DJ.

"Yeah, lots of times."

"Shaundi… I want you to take Veteran Child back, deep into the Saints headquarters and lock every door you can find." Alex said carefully. "Don't open the door for anyone but me or Gat."

"Why boss… what's going on."

"Just do what I say!" Alex ordered before walking out of the office.

* * *

Author's Notes

Ohhh... something freaky deeky is going on. Next chapter will have Alex face off with Sunshine. Also, a new Blacklight creature... and this one will be cute... well... as cute as a Blacklight creature can be.

Reviews

Notsae - yeah not doing the Zin, and Alex will be taking the Saints global. I have so many plans.

Rmarcano321 - PM, yes... yes they are.

IAmPedobear - thank you and could please specify exactly what you like the most so I may continue and expand on it. It helps.

Xalimech - Its fine, but what I was saying is like what do they do for the hive. Not a big fan of doing things because that's cool. I like to have some reason for it. but thank you for any ideas you might have regardless.

LORD DESTRYUK - I don't plan on having Killbane as the big bad of SR3... someone from Prototype has that spot... hehehe... oh... the plans I have. Matt will be around, as will all the cast of SR3.


	27. Voodoo

Author's notes

I have Announcement! Before we get into Voodoo, (see disclaimer at bottom in bold please) I have a bone for all of you to chew on. Steelport does not exist in this world. Sooooo we will be heading somewhere else for the events of SR3... I'll give you all a hint... LS... let's see who gets it.

* * *

Mileena soon awoke, realizing she was tied down to a chair. Her eyes had been covered in bloodied rags, but she knew it wasn't her own blood. Her eyes switched to thermal vision and revealed that she was surrounded by people kneeling around her in a circle. All she could tell was that there was eight of them on the ground, and a ninth standing behind her. They were all chanting, droning in a language she didn't recognize, and she knew a lot of them. Well, she knew enough of each to recognize them.

She could also feel the gnawing sensation of the psychic plane chewing at her mind. Wherever she was, the veil between reality and what lay beyond it was weak. She could tell it wasn't a natural thing, this was made on purpose. Or, maybe it was made with the intent of something else and the fools that caused it had no idea. Either way this was not good.

"Good… you're awake." Mileena recognized that voice, it was the man that she had been tracking for her Alpha. Mr. Sunshine. "It's almost time for you to serve your purpose." She didn't speak. She didn't care. But when she tried to break free of her restraints Mileena found she couldn't move her body. Every nerve screamed back with pain, not enough pain for it to be a real problem but enough that a normal person would have shrieked out loud. She then tried to check her overall biomass, she could feel the flow of semi-liquid tissue move just under her skin. But whatever was going on with her body seemed to be trapping the biomass under her skin. "Oh that isn't gonna work. The Loa warned me about you strange demons." She watched from behind the rag covering her eyes as Mr. Sunshine lowered himself in front of her. "But you… are even more different… you can hear the Loa like me." Mr. Sunshine removed the rag covering her eyes.

It hurt to look around. All around her, on the walls, floors, everywhere, were patterns drawn in white chalk, elusive angles and strange geometric shapes that throbbed and pulsed with psychic energy. Mileena knew that these chaotic symbols were not healthy to be around, and the ease with which Mr. Sunshine walked among them meant even worse things for her than his questionable mental stability.

Mr. Sunshine stared at her for a while, and she briefly felt a slithering presence brush up against her in the Hive Mind, knowing immediately that it was a mental probe. If the barrier between her mind and the psychic plane hadn't been there, he would have quickly found out everything about her.

"You're going to need more power than that." Mileena bit out, hoping to delay whatever he had planned long enough for Alex to come for her. He would… at least that is what she hoped. "Why not make another deal with the voices… I'm sure they would be happy to provide." Mr. Sunshine didn't react, instead continuing to stare at her. His only response was to slowly run the blade of his machete over her right leg. It was like popping the casing of a water balloon, and the second the cut had been made, her collected biomass began spilling out from the wound. It flooded down towards the floor, but the second it touched the tainted surface it boiled away into nothing.

"I do not make deals with the Loa girl… I willing submit to their guidance." Mr. Sunshine explained as smugly as his calm tone could give away. Mileena was too busy pulling her biomass back from her leg, and it took all her mental efforts to make it do so. It wanted to go to the wound in her leg and heal it but she knew the second it got there it would spill out. "It seems you did not hear me." Mr. Sunshine looked back to his chanting followers and with a wave of his hand they stopped. Mileena could feel her body return to normal, and tentatively let the biomass flow back to the wound. None of it spilled over and the slice was quickly healed. "Don't mistake this for kindness, girl, I wanted to make sure you were listening. As I said, I didn't make any deal. I serve the Loa because they are right. This world needs to change… and I will simply help it along in doing so."

* * *

"I'm not happy… can you guess why?" Alex asked… calmly.

"Get the fuck off me!" Liu Kang yelled as his face was pressed down into the pavement. Around them were Gat holding Scorpion and Sub-Zero up against the wall, fighting the Protos had became much easier when it was his main focus. Nearby was Jade, Smoke and Jax who had watched in slight shame as their comrades got their asses handed to them.

"Apparently, you people don't do your job that well. Because I have a Proto on my hands that isn't with you guys and now he's kidnapped Mileena." Alex growled out causing all of the Proto agents to turn pale. Liu Kang, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero all stopped trying to escape

"What are you talking about?" Jax asked carefully.

"I've been in gang war with a gang called the Sons of Samedi. They are enforced by a man called Mr. Sunshine, and **he** is not only responsible for the death of an Infected we sent on an espionage mission but the death of a whole crew of Saints that we gathered up to take their drug farm. In **both** instances Mr. Sunshine found and killed them in ways that weren't humanly possible. The Infected he killed had no connection to the Saints, yet Sunshine delivered his severed head to the front steps of my base. With the farm assault crew, he killed them hours after the had been gathered, not that long after we'd even decided to take the Farm. They were also decapitated and branded on the forehead."

"Wait, what kind of brand did they have?" Smoke asked, noticing a familiar pattern. Alex responded by shifting his right arm into a bio-sword and carving the offending symbol into the pavement. It only took a fraction of a second before it was recognized by every one of the Protos. They had seen it enough times to know what it was. The marking only lasted that long before Liu Kang smashed the pavement it was carved into.

"That is a big problem." Jax voiced the thought that was on everyone's mind. "That symbol heralds a great evil, and it's one of many. There are some real horrors that live in the psychic plane, Voices that reach out to the Protos, and _that_ is one of their symbols, the ones that follow those who listen to these Voices. We need to find this Proto and eliminate him."

"Well _I_ have no clue where to find him." Alex said as he let go of Liu Kang. "So you guys better have crazy radar or something because I'm getting pissed enough to start tearing up the streets."

"We can find him and Mileena." Jax assured before turning to Smoke. "Why haven't you been doing your job, come on… find out where the freak is." Smoke appeared to ignore the harsh tone before looking off to Alex. He then remembered his own personal orders from the Director.

"I am unable to perform long-range detection due to localized damage to the psychic plane." Smoke said in a monotone, trying to hide the tone of reading from a premade speech.

"What did you say?" Jax said as he stepped over to Smoke.

"He's right, the local psychic plane is so heavily damaged that even the most capable sensor wouldn't find a disturbance." Sub-Zero said in defense of Smoke.

"So we have no way of knowing how to find him, great." Gat groaned.

"If we can't find him, then I will call the one person that can dig up the answers we need…" Alex said as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Dana… find me Sunshine."

"Alex… I don't know what you're talking about. You're gonna need to give me some details."

* * *

"Maero… you're thinking about taking Alex's deal, aren't you?" Jessica asked as Maero occupied his second favorite place: a tattoo chair. His first was in bed with her. "I know a lot of the boys might be against it, but it really looks better in the long run."

"Fuck yeah it is." said Matt, their friend from the Feed Dogs band and the man currently tattooing Maero. "I've seen what Mercer can do, dude is no joke. Took down a whole crew of Rollerz, and they saw him coming, had the guns and man power, even their boss Price. Didn't matter."

"The Saints took down the Carnales, Vice Kings, and the Rollerz. They already have the Sons running… what if joining up with them is the only way to survive?!" Jessica said, clearly worried that the Brotherhood would be next. "Even with the incoming shipment we have going on… hell, Hector had the support of the Cartel and he still couldn't take the Saints down!"

"Jess… it's going to be fine." Maero said getting out of the chair, clearly worried over his distraught girlfriend.

"The Saints meant business, and their heyday might have been five years ago, but when Mercer… when he egged on Rex like that… that was the same psycho we all heard about." Jessica was on the verge of tears as she felt Maero hold her. She couldn't get Mercer's grin out of her mind, he really wanted Rex to shoot him. He wasn't afraid in the slightest. How could they fight someone like that?

"It's alright babe… I thought this over and I've realized the same thing. Once the Saints take the Sons down and prove to the rest of the crew that they are still the same Saints, we'll talk with Mercer."

* * *

"So, this is the place… an abandoned meat packing plant… okay…" Alex sighed as he stared up at the building Dana had found. She had found a series of shell companies and deeds set up under fake names, but she worked her magic and found this place. It was owned by the Sons of Samedi via every shady trick in the book and each time the city tried to close it… bad things happened to those involved.

"I am so ready to gut this fucker…" Gat growled out, thinking of the crew they lost and the Hive member killed for no real reason. "Where's the freak crew?"

"Sent them the wrong address. This is between **us** and **him**." Alex said as he cracked his neck threateningly. The two Virals walked through the doors of the meat packing plant, the first room they came upon was completely silent, seemingly nothing more than an abandoned factory. But to both of the Virals, there was no hiding the smell the dried blood that had been poorly cleaned. And it wasn't pig, cow, or chicken blood.

"I think we've found the place… hey… why don't we just burn the place down? Our girl will survive." Gat asked as they walked through the room to next.

"Not taking any risks. We know they masked an Infected in the Hive Mind, I'm not taking a single chance that she's vulnerable enough to get hurt in a fire." Alex said as they found the next door locked and quickly kicked it down. "How dare they impede me… I'll do more than disfigure them, I'm thinking outright mutilation!" he snarled. It was then that they found the first signs of weirdness: small otherworldly symbols carved onto the walls and various pieces of dust-covered machinery. They followed the increasing amount of scribbles.

"FOR THE LOA!" A crazed hooded man with white painted marks on his face and exposed upper body jumped out from under a conveyer belt. He was casually bisected by Alex, who didn't so much as glance in the attacker's direction as the two continued onward. Three more deranged cultists came out from their pathetically stupid hiding places before Alex and Gat made it to the main chamber of the makeshift temple to a voodoo deity.

"And so they have come, unafraid and with hearts filled with lies of their humanity…" The two Virals heard as they entered the room. They stood on a terrace overlooking the main floor of the plant while Mr. Sunshine was across the floor on a lower terrace. Behind the voodoo priest was four more men on their knees around a white chalk circle, Mileena bound in the middle. "… kneel before the power of the Loa!"

"Yeahhhh no." Alex mocked before changing his arm into his bio-gun and firing a barb round towards Mr. Sunshine. The voodoo priest did nothing to dodge the incoming projectile, staring blank-faced as it burned harmlessly to ash the second it passed the terrace railing. "Okay… that complicates things."

"You are nothing but a ripple in the river of nature." Mr. Sunshine said as paced back and forth in front of the railing. "Normally the Loa would celebrate you as one of their own… but you are not. They do not celebrate you, they curse your very existence, they _scream_ for your end. And I will be happy to give it to them." He turned back to Mileena and walked into the circle. The two Virals watched skeptically, not expecting him to be able to do much since a Viral with enough biomass could never die. "She will be the first of you to perish." Mr. Sunshine intoned before hacking off Mileena's arm. To Alex and Gat's horror it didn't regrow and Mileena screamed out in what sounded like pain. Not minor discomfort. Alex quickly ran forward and made to jump over to the other terrace, but the second his palm touched the railing on his own side, his hand began burning off as if held to an invisible fire.

"Fuck! What the hell is going on?!" Alex roared as he watched his hand recover its skin after he removed it from the rail. He looked back expecting a smug grin on Mr. Sunshine, but what greeted him was the even more infuriating look of disinterest. "What is all this… the barb didn't burn up until reaching over there… this doesn't make any sense!"

"Mortal logic is nothing to the Loa. We are but children fumbling in ignorance, while _they_ know **all**." Mr. Sunshine mocked Alex's lack of understanding.

"Hey boss… maybe we should head back and call the freak squad." Gat suggested, unnerved by the fact he wasn't going to be able to murder this asshole himself.

"The only way I'm leaving this place is with that bastard dead and Mileena safe!" Alex shot back before jumping off the terrace, the force of his jump denting the bars below him. The second he crossed over into the open air, his whole body began degrading from the unseen flames. Alex bit through the very real pain that seared through his body, and by the time he had landed on the other terrace his face had burned off with only ragged patches of his clothes remaining below it.

"Insolent creature! You will bow before the Loa with or without your knees!" Mr. Sunshine screamed as he ran toward Alex with his machete. Alex struggled to form a bio-sword, so he dodged the first few slashes.

"Hey boss! Catch!" Gat yelled out as he tossed one of the dead ambushers' machetes. Gat's instincts turned out to be right in that whatever field that existed between the terraces only worked on organic matter. Alex caught the thrown weapon and blocked the next blow by the voodoo priest. Alex hurriedly pulled on the memories of anyone that had close-combat training with bladed weapons. Armed with that wealth of experience and knowledge he was able to counter Mr. Sunshine, pushing him back into a corner before plunging the sword into his heart. Alex angrily forced the machete deeper just to be sure before pushing the corpse off. He looked back to the circle of cultists and saw that not one had so much as moved from their spot. Alex quickly began decapitating them, encountering no resistance even as their fellows were beheaded.

"This fight… is far from over." Alex turned back only to see Mr. Sunshine standing back up, only a small tick in his movements giving any sign of his previous state. He charged back towards Alex, but this time it was Mileena's turn to kill the voodoo priest. Alex sidestepped the slower charge and tossed the machete to the now free Mileena who quickly carved off an arm in exchange for the one taken by Mr. Sunshine before stabbing him in the gut for about five minutes.

"That… that felt good." She breathed out as she tossed the machete across the floor. "We need to burn this place down." Mileena said as she walked away from the corpse.

"You think that would stop me…?" They both turned around and saw Mr. Sunshine standing upright once again. "… I am the Son of Samedi!" Mr. Sunshine's monologue turned into a gargle of unintelligible words as he foamed at the mouth. All three Virals watched as he floated off the ground, his stump of an arm bursting into a mass of mutant flesh and writhing tentacles. "I speak for the Master of Deception, the Crafter of Destiny itself, **I shall not** …" Alex pulled out his backup pistol and shot the man in the head.

"For fuck's sake, just die…!" Alex grumbled as he unloaded a full clip into the head of the voodoo priest. Alex continued to fire into the man's body even once it had fallen back to the ground and stopped moving. Gat soon joined in on the fun once he got over to the other two. Mileena was forced to merely watch as she was without a firearm.

* * *

"So, I assume you guys took the rogue Proto out." Jax asked, slightly irritated at the Virals as they all watched the meat packing plant burn. Alex, Gat, and Mileena had already set up a small picnic on the roof of a nearby building to watch the destruction. All three of them were laying back in lawn chairs with food and drink resting in a cooler next to Gat.

"Don't worry Jax, I made sure to tell them how to properly dispose of the body." Mileena said with a smug grin as she and her fellows enjoyed the blazing fire.

"Just go back to your creepy Illuminati stalking hobby." Alex waved them off, not taking his eyes off the inferno. "Hey Gat…" Gat quickly threw a beer and hot dog to his Alpha who caught one in each hand. "… thank you."

"You guys are weird." Jax sighed in resignation before glancing down. "… could I….?" Alex handed Jax the unopened beer while Gat tossed Alex another.

* * *

Atshushi was absolutely giddy about his newest creation. Sadly, he could only find Victor and Carlos to witness its unveiling. Dana was going on her first date in seven years and she had already told him that if he interrupted it she would do unspeakable things to him. He didn't want unspeakable things done to him. Lin had no interest while Price and Donnie were handling business with their construction company. Alex and his Betas were handling some business with gang stuff. So that left Carlos and Victor as the only people he could show off too.

"You guys ready?" Atshushi said excitedly, practically bouncing up and down.

"Sure." Carlos answered, if it was going to be as cool as the Legionaries then he was sure that he'd enjoy the event.

"I'm just here to make sure it doesn't go crazy and kill you. Like the _last_ five." Victor stated bluntly.

"Okay… I tested this one. Its harmless."

"It's Blacklight….." Both of the other males said, not believing Atshushi, only to receive an impatient glare.

"Anyway! I present to you…" Atshushi said with his best announcer voice. "… the Blacklight Imp." Atshushi pulled the cloth over the box holding his newest creation. Inside was a small creature no bigger than the size of a human head. It was slightly hunched over and walked on it's fists like a gorilla. Its skin was light gray and looked to be very leathery. A long thin tail swished back and forth within the box, its other limbs were long and thin but its hands and feet were large. Its head was also a little larger than what should be proportional with a large fanged mouth and small beady eyes, though it looked like it mostly used smell to navigate by the movements of the head.

"It looks like a freaky relative of Gollum." Carlos said leaning a bit closer to the glass box that contained the creature. It seemed to notice the presence of the Gamma as when Carlos leaned in it started following him, making small squeaks of curiosity. "Okay… I'll admit it's starting to grow on me." The creature did look more cute than disgusting, but it was bordering on that line.

"So why'd you make this pequeña bestia." Victor asked knowing that Atshushi didn't do things like this for funnies. Either him or Alex always had a plan, but this seemed to be the younger man's game.

"The Blacklight Imp is the first of non-combat Blacklight Constructs. While this compound is unknowingly run by Ultor, we will be likely running others, and that means we need income. Not only that but we already have a need of Biomass, and Biomass can only to generated via two means. One… we liquidate live humans. That is not an option. The other, is that find alternative sources. At the moment we are working off what Blackwatch keeps around in storage containers that Dana appropriates. This is dangerous because it risks Blackwatch figuring out that some of their stuff is going missing."

"Wouldn't they figure that out really quickly. I mean Biomass is only needed for Blacklight… so?" Carlos asked slightly worried.

"Nah… here's the thing. Project Olympus, the place I used to work at, uses tons of Biomass and if a container goes missing Blackwatch assumes that Olympus just miss counted their weekly use. They do this because of their own arrogance and because no one really could use the tons of Biomass they are cleaning up at New York. But back to this little guy. He and his kind are going solve the problem. We are going to release him out onto the streets of Stilwater and he will go around and clean the place up. Any organic matter an Imp comes across they eat and turn it into useable Biomass…" Atshushi pulled out a half-eaten candy bar from one of the drawers before dropping it in the box through a small hole in the top. The Imp quickly sniffed the candy out and soon ate the whole thing, and then placed the wrapper in a small pouch on its midsection. Carlos and Victor watched as one of two sacks on the Imp's back inflated slightly as a small amount of green liquid filled the sack.

"That's… I don't know if I can say that's cool or not." Carlos said clearly undecided on how he felt about it.

"The Imps will gather resources from city environments while at the same time cleaning the ground. Inorganic matter they will collect and we can recycle. For a profit. They mostly use their sense of smell to find their way around, they can detect certain smells that humans give off if the are frightened or aggravated so they can avoid trouble. They only really use their eyes for things they pick up. But their best characteristic is their speed, these guys run fast… fast enough to make the Legionnaires hate the sight of them. I tried showing them the Imps and the Imps got scared, we then spent a full day trying to catch them. And by the end of it… the Legionaries were taking shots at the Imps.

* * *

"So… what's gonna happen to me?" Veteran Child asked his ex as they waited for the return of Alex and Gat. "Because I've told you guys everything I know."

"Hell if I know, the boss said he likes your radio show so that might be enough to keep you alive in his book. But then again… you did try to kidnap me." Shaundi said with that same smug grin she had when she knew more than what she was saying.

"It was either that or get burned alive!" He cried. "Fuck… the only reason I joined the Sons was to party… I never wanted this whole gang shit."

"Well, too late now." Shaundi said clearly enjoying his misery.

"Alright you two…" Alex said as he entered the building. "… Sunshine is dead and the General is next. So…" Alex said as he turned to Veteran Child. "… where is he?"

"Fuck if I know… dude's always in that limo he uses. Never seen him outside of it for more than an hour." Veteran Child explained. "Thing is locked down though, bulletproof, solid too… it could take a hit from a semi-truck and still keep going."

"Interesting… we'll need to know the routes he takes, find a pattern, places he goes to on a regular basis. Maybe we can get spotters on the streets or better yet hack into the police traffic cameras." As Alex spoke one of the Saints entered the room.

"Uh… boss… we need you outside." The Saint said trying to get Alex's attention.

"What is it?" Alex said slightly irritated.

"Er… well… some dude in a big-ass limo pulled up and says he wants to talk to you." Alex looked over to Shaundi and Veteran Child.

"He wants to….. you gotta be shitting me."

Alex, Shaundi, and Gat all went through the Saints' underground neighborhood and out to the surface via Purgatory, where they found the General standing next to his limo. What Alex saw in front of him was exactly as he had pictured, from the African man's white and green suit down to the expensive cigar in his hand. "So, does the General have a real name?" Alex said as he approached one of his adversaries.

"The General _is_ a title that I used, and you have earned my gratitude such that you may know my name. If you wish, call me Keambiroiro."

"That's even worse." Alex said bluntly causing the General to laugh.

"You are not the first not have pointed that out. But as to why I am here, I have come to thank you and the Saints for freeing my mind from that monster. I have also come to tell you that I am disbanding the Sons of Samedi." Alex was in shock, this was not how he expected this to turn out.

"That's… unexpected… I was not aware that Sunshine had any power over you."

"The minute I met that wretch, he poured honeyed words into my ears, talked me into many atrocities, not to say I hadn't committed any before then , but I am a practical man and what that monster did was anything but. I have no reason for staying in this nation, and I intend to return to my homeland as soon as I can. I leave everything the Sons had to you and the Saints." The General nodded to the group, turned, and was about to get into his limo when Alex stopped him.

"Before you go…" Alex smirked as a plan unfolded in his mind. "… You are man of power, experience, and intelligence… all things I admire. So I ask you to stay in Stilwater for a few months…and once I take back what is mine, I will have a business proposal for you that I think you might want to hear."

* * *

Author's Notes

 **(Attention) any depiction of Voodoo and the worship of the deities known as Loa in this story is not factual nor a true representation of it. I highly recommend looking into Actual Voodoo as it is not what is depicted in this story and many other works of fiction and media. Much of Voodoo is about maintaining balance, not zombies or chicken sacrifices. Please take the time to broaden the scope of what you know. thank you.**

And we are done with the Sons. And its starting to look like the Gang part of SR2 will be a lot shorter than the gang part of SR1, this is due to how I have had things go. for one thing Alex is in charge and he has Way more advantages than the Boss did. Second, the Brotherhood is mostly not as big a deal now that I'm having Maero join the Saints, why am I doing that... because Maero wasn't that bad of a guy in my opinion. Yes he killed Carlos, and I will never forgive him for that, but he was the only one to talk to the Saints and everything he did was more reaction than action towards the Saints. But in any case let's not worry about that because I still plan on this being a at minimum 400k long story. and I have one spin off planned and a sequel.

Reviews

Notsae - Sorry but Sunshine is not joining the Hive... but I think we can guess who is. And don't worry, I have galactic level plans.

Helkil - they are more non-gendered. I will be using male pronouns because they have a male outline and using the logic that if it looks male and sounds male then... but they are Blacklight Constructs and there for do not have gender.

Rmarcano321 - PM yes... voodoo. crazy bullshit voodoo.

IAmPedobear - I'm guessing you've read Viral Mates? the writer does a good job with the Hive Mind. and once again than you for reading

Xalimech - Thank you, and very good ideas. reminded me about Alex's crows... given me a few ideas for the future.

LORD DESTRYUK - THANK YOU! KILLBANE WILL DIE! AND YOU ARE RIGHT, THIS WILL NOT HEAD INTO A RED/BLUE PILL FUCK OFF SIMULATION! hehehe, see you next time.


	28. Loyalty

**Two weeks after the fall of the Sons of Samedi.**

"So… how was your date?" Alex asked as he enjoyed the sun from his floaty chair in his Villa pool. Although, the chair was not really needed seeing as Alex had filled the pool full of popcorn.

"Alex… that was two weeks ago, and you're only asking now?" Dana asked dryly, not looking up from her swimsuit catalog.

"I've been busy!" He said in mock indignation. "The former Sons' territory didn't lock itself down, and some of them really didn't get the memo that they were disbanding. Then there was the massive frat party they threw for us, Saints Day… man can the local boys throw a kegger." Alex smiled fondly as he remembered the party the Stilwater U frats threw in recognition of the Saints taking control over the local drug trade.

"You weren't _that_ busy…" Dana said flipping a page. "… you've had time to fill this pool up with the stupidest things imaginable."

"You enjoyed the pool of wine as much as I did! But come on… tell your big brother all about your date." Alex said clearly not letting his fun go.

"Fine…" Dana sighed. "Date was horrible, knew it from the start. This city has no decent people in it at all. Everyone is crazy."

"How was the sex?"

"Fan-fucking-tastic… you happy now you sick weirdo?" Dana grumbled as she returned what she was doing before: trying to ignore Alex while shopping for bikinis.

"Hey boss." Carlos announced as he walked out of the Villa. "… Maero and his girl are at the gate… what should I do?" Carlos said while trying his hardest not to stare at Dana.

"Send them in… but tell the Praetorian Guard to hide, I don't need them seen by our guests." Carlos nodded and headed back into the Villa.

"Don't you think you should tell them to wait while you get changed?" Dana asked since currently Alex looked like a half-naked manchild sitting in a pool of popcorn.

"Nope." Alex returned, not at all caring what he looked like at the moment. He had already proven to Maero that he was the real deal. Alex proceeded to spend a good five minutes trying to rotate his floaty chair around so he could face Maero and Jessica. He didn't succeed that much as by the time Maero and Jessica were walking out he was only turned slightly to the side. When Maero found Alex Mercer in a purple and black floaty chair in the middle of a popcorn filled pool… it took him a second to collect himself.

"Mercer… we've… uh… fuck… I have to ask, what the hell are you doing?" Maero asked completely dumbstruck by the sight before him. Jessica wasn't faring much better but she was able to keep quiet as this was still Mercer.

"Enjoying life… when you've been through the hell I've been through then you learn quickly that many experiences are out there just waiting to be had." Alex said before picking up a hand of the popcorn and eating it. "Like floating in a pool of cheese and caramel popcorn." Alex said once he was finished eating. Maero felt that was as best a answer as he was going to get.

"Sure… well we've decided to take your offer." Maero stated as firm as he could. "But we have some demands…"

"No… all you will get is a position in the Saints hierarchy. Everything else is non-negotiable." Alex said with as little effort as possible, but there was an air of finality to it that Maero and Jessica knew that they couldn't go against.

"Fine… not like we have much choice." That last part Maero had mumbled quietly enough to himself that no one could have heard him. At least, no one without enhanced hearing.

"I assume that you told your crew about your plans." Alex mused out loud.

"Yeah… they weren't happy, but they'll learn."

"No-o-o-o….I guarantee that right now your boy Rex is leading a coup." Alex said as he pulled out his phone and called a number. "Yeah… they are?… Good. Then tell Gat that there's murderin' to be done." Alex calmly put his phone away and looked neutrally at Maero and Jessica as if he had not sent their gang to their deaths. "Now that that's out of the way… I can give you guys the number for a great place that can hook you up with new clothes."

* * *

Gat slid his phone back into his pocket. He had just been given the order to burn the Brotherhood to the ground. Apparently they were in a civil war between the side following Maero into the Saints' ranks and those that wanted to fight for the whole city. Gat knew that he was in for a good fight given that most of the Brotherhood wanted to fight the Saints.

"It's a go…" Gat stated to his driver. He was currently in the passenger side of a Saints Stiletto with a cadre of Saints waiting behind them. The driver revved the vehicle as a signal to the rest to get moving before peeling out of the parking lot.

* * *

Rex was sitting in Maero's tattoo chair, it was uncomfortable but it was symbolic. _He_ now owned the Brotherhood. Him, a weak and sickly man with no tattoos on his whole body. A man that owned a tiny car, not a monster truck like Maero. Even so, he was respected by the whole gang as the man that had won them their place in Stilwater. It wasn't Maero, but him that kept the Sons at bay. Maero might have fought a ton of firefights and personally fought with the boys. But Rex had planned out every take over, every drive by, each and every move the Brotherhood had made he was the brains behind it, and he made sure that everyone knew it.

And that had paid off. Because now Maero was most likely kissing the boot of Alex Mercer, some burnt-out bigshot that for some reason was a legend to Stilwater. Rex had heard of Mercer, all rumor and puffed-up myths. Rex himself wasn't much, but his rep said another thing, Mercer had just been smart enough to do the same in his time, but he was just some decent shot with a big mouth.

Even Mercer challenging Rex when he first showed up was boastful big-talk. Rex admitted he had a great poker face, but Rex knew that on the inside Mercer was praying that he wouldn't shoot. He was lucky Rex refrained from pulling the trigger out of pity, no other reason at all. What sane man would willingly put his head up to the barrel of a gun like that and not be bluffing?

"Boss!" He did so love being called that. He looked up from his thoughts to see one of the Brotherhood members that had sided with him running forward. "Those pussies that want to join up with the Saints are falling back, we need to take care of them before Maero shows up after he finishes kissing Mercer's ass."

"Don't worry, we outnumber them twelve to one. We'll be fine, just keep pushing them back and be ready for when Maero arrives." Rex dismissed the Brotherhood member, who returned to the fight. Rex returned back to his thoughts. After he would take care of Maero, he would need to plan out the Saints' reaction. They would try for Chinatown first, and then the truck yards. The Brotherhood needed Chinatown since the protection money they paid was higher than any other. Rex would be needing that money. With a new shipment of guns coming in Rex would have to buy off Maero's former contacts. Once the shipment was acquired and they had the firepower to take down the Saints, the Ronin would have no chance. Then, Stilwater would be ruled by those that truly deserved it.

"Hey boss!" This time Rex couldn't enjoy being called that due to the worried tone his boy was using. "The Saints showed up, and Johnny Gat is here!" This was not an unforeseen possibility, a rather poor one for him but one that he had prepared for.

"What is he doing?" Rex asked the out of breath Brotherhood member.

"He and five other cars filled with Saints showed up and blocked off the way out of the docks. They got us trapped. A-and now Gat is talkin' to the boys about dropping their flags… boss… a lot of them are thinkin' about it." This was not good at all. He had expected Johnny Gat of all people to come in guns blazing, not play messenger boy with Mercer's words.

Rex said nothing to the Brotherhood member as he got out of Maero's tattoo chair and left the warehouse. He walked through the staging ground the Brotherhood had around the warehouse and up to the front line of trucks that he had ordered they make. About fifty feet of open pavement separated their line of trucks and the line of purple cars and trucks of the Saints.

"… one chance! That's all you're getting' and I kinda hope you don't take it. Because then I haven't a real good time since getting' back in the game. And this looks to be…" Johnny Gat was pacing out in front of the line of Saints cars as he yelled his grisly speech through a bullhorn. Rex looked around and saw that a lot of his boys were disheartened to say the least at the appearance of Johnny Gat. But not him… right now… he saw his chance. His hold on the Brotherhood was only because Maero had made an unpopular choice, and Rex knew his influence wasn't going to last without something he could point to, to prove that he was the leader that the Brotherhood needed. And right now… he had the perfect opportunity. Everyone else was too frightened to make a single move while Johnny Gat spoke. "… shot that fucker in the fuckin' head. And that was just my first time with a shotgun. But I think we've all heard enough about…" A shot rang out, Johnny lurching back from the force of the bullet hitting his head. Rex had did it, he had killed Johnny Gat.

* * *

"What'ch got there?" Alex asked as he sat down next to Gat. Both sitting on the roof of the Brotherhood warehouse, their backs to one of the air-conditioning units. Alex was pointing out the severed head in Gat's bio-claws.

"The head of some fool that took a shot at me." Gat answered as he handed the head over to Alex's Bio-claws.

"This was… uh… shit, I don't remember his name but he was Maero's right hand man." Alex said as he clenched his hand and sliced the head into five pieces.

"Everything went exactly as you thought it would, the fight wasn't that good. The second they saw me get back up and flick the bullet off my forehead, most of 'em either surrendered or started running."

"The rest freaked out and opened fire on you without a single bit of coordination?" Gat nodded in confirmation. "Victor, Pierce, and Carlos are handling the takeover of the former territory of the Brotherhood. Lin's contacts in Chinatown are already sending in our rates for protection and the cut of their gambling rings. Sounds like they're pretty happy to have us back, though they still managed to sound irritated at the whole thing."

"Now all that's left is the Ronin. Get any word on whether they be willin' to fold like the Brotherhood?"

"Hate to say that this isn't going to be like the Rollerz. Unlike them, the Ronin know their stuff. They aren't made up of spoiled rich kids paying at gangbangers. Plus, they have the backing of the Yakuza, so they are well funded and well-armed."

"Good, because so far the Sons and Brotherhood have been total fuckin' pussies."

* * *

" _Anata no chichioya ni denwa suru no wa kenmeide wa nai to omoimasu ka?_ " Jyunichi asked as he watched his charge get… serviced… by a less-than-respectable woman. He tried to ignore the side of him that wanted to go behind Shogo's back and call his father right then and there. It was a voice that had been growing louder and louder each passing day.

"My father is not needed here." Shogo replied dismissively, not caring in the slightest.

" _Seijin-tachi wa, toshi o amarini mo ōku no mono o seigyo shite, mohaya sorera o mushi shimasu_." The Saints had been an issue that Jyunichi had warned Shogo about since they had announced themselves weeks ago. Shogo would not listen, he said that the Sons would tire themselves out taking care of the Saints and that was when they could strike at a weakened foe. It was a good idea that had surprised Jyunichi, temporarily alleviating his fears of the Saints. But that was then… and now the Saints controlled the entire southern side of Stilwater.

"I am not ignoring them. Jyunichi… you need to relax. The Saints have simply taken two problems and made it one. That sounds a whole lot easier than what we had to deal with before." Shogo said with complete faith in what he was saying. "Besides… I got word from Mr. Momoi that we will be getting reinforcements real soon."

* * *

Alex was now floating on his inflatable chair in a pool hair gel. He had gone through all the edible things he could fill the pool with, and had moved onto the non-edible stuff. First up, gels and other viscous products. It was… different, not good nor bad but… different.

"Okay… this has to stop." Dana said dropping her pool gear at the sight in front of her. "I am looking at a pool filled with… that's hair gel isn't it?"

"Wow… you got it right on the first try." Alex said before clapping briefly. "Hurray for you."

"Alex… you are getting worse. I'm stating that right now." Dana said as she gathered her things and returned inside not wanting to deal with Alex today. Alex meanwhile pondered on what Dana had said. Was he really getting worse?

* * *

Three Days later.

The whole of the Saints leadership, now including Maero and Jessica, sat and stood in the office of Purgatory. Alex had gathered them for the planning of their attack on the Ronin. Alex was sitting at his desk in the center, Gat leaning back against the back wall, Carlos sat across from Alex with Lin next to him, Luz was leaning on Alex's desk, Shaundi was currently resting on the couch that overlooked the dance floor, Pierce stood by the door. As new members, Maero and Jessica were seated in the chairs behind the couch.

"Right now we could very well take the Ronin territory with force alone." Alex started off. "But… it would cost us in both manpower and would risk the leadership of the Ronin escaping. We can't have that." Alex nodded to Carlos and the Gamma turned on the office's projector, displaying the image of Shogo Akuji, leader of the Ronin. "This is Shogo Akuji, age twenty-four, skills… for one, he is an above average motorcycle driver. He also has contacts with many high-profile people. Basically, a spoiled rich kid using his father's name and some minor talent to propel himself to the top." That got a few laughs. "However… this man…" the image changed to Jyunichi. "Is not. This is Jyunichi, enforcer of the Ronin and appointed watchdog of Shogo. It is his job to keep Shogo alive by order of his father, though I doubt a man like him is happy with such an arrangement."

"When I was on death row, I'd overhear some of the Ronin in there talk about this guy. To them, it's like he's a demon outa hell. They will follow this bastard to the ends of the earth." Gat interjected.

"Right now you are under the assumption that the Ronin's success is entirely on him " Alex said absentmindedly playing with a pen between his fingers. "But that isn't the biggest problem we are facing with the Ronin. The backing of the Yakuza is the issue keeping us at bay."

"If the Yakuza come in force then we're fucked any way that we try to prepare for it." Lin said before handing a card over to Alex. "Which is why we might need our own ally from the east…god, I already hate it, fuck you for making me say that." Lin said with a glare toward Pierce. Alex looked down at the card, Wong's Tea House.

* * *

Atshushi was having a really good day. Better than most of his really good days since Alex had returned and allowed him to begin work on some of his more… risky ideas. This one was long overdue. He would finally make the Legionary birthing pit- no… that sounded gross. The prodigy's face turned sour as he tried to figure out the correct description of his newest creation.

While all around him Legionaries gathered in awe of their new object of their existence. It was a large metal tank with walkways wrapping around the open top, the walkways only separated from the edge of the tank by about a foot. In the tank was Biomass, the dark red ooze bubbling and steaming. On each side of the tank were windows that allowed the Legionaries a view into the semi-clear biomass for the occasional look at their growing fetal kin. Above the tank was a large Blacklight Construct, much the same design of the Pod trees the Legionaries used when not training or in service.

The large bulbous creature was suspended on four pillars connected to the four corners of the tank. There were also additional supports connected to the metal walkways that surrounded the container of biomass. Dangling from the center of the mass was long extension ending in a claw though not one made for cutting like the Evolveds' bio-claws but one made for reaching into the soup of Biomass to collect the Legionaries once they had finished growing. Along with the claw were hundreds of long thin feelers that trailed down below the surface of the biomass, moving between each Legionary to detect their progress upon contact.

"Oh, I give up…" Atshushi looked back over to the Legionaries gathering around. "If any of you start calling it Mother than the Alpha will kill you on the spot." Atshushi knew that word was taboo when it came to Blacklight naming.

* * *

Alex was currently drinking tea. It was good tea. He was not a tea person but it was pleasant nonetheless, aromatic and strong-flavored. Next to him was Lin who had brought him to this tea house, while across from him was the owner and to Alex's dread… Lin's grandfather. The man had effectively terrified the shit out of a being that had no reason to fear anyone.

Everything about Mr. Wong scared Alex, even the smallest movements felt exceedingly intimidating, as if he constantly was planning, rehearsing, and shifting into position to deal lethal harm. From a simple glance one would not pay the short elderly man no mind and certainly not be afraid of him. But Alex knew… he knew the terror this man wielded towards many.

"Lin… why have I yet to be stabbed in the neck with poison needles?" Alex said calmly before sipping his tea.

"Grandfather prefers modern means of dealing death." Lin said, also calmly but with far more actual assurance than Alex had.

"Okay then… why have I not gotten a gunshot wound to the gut?"

"Because Grandfather finds you to be acceptable."

"Alex Mercer _xiānshēng_ …" Mr. Wong started, not in English but in Mandarin. "… _You are a person I have watched since you arrived in Stilwater. You are a man of great power and destructive tendencies… these are things I can respect. From what my granddaughter has told me, you hold family to a high standard, do you not._ "

" _This is true._ " Alex replied, likewise in perfect Mandarin.

" _As do I, I love my family dearly and I want what is best for them…_ " Why did Alex feel like this was going to a place he was going to hate. "… _which is why you will be marrying my granddaughter._ " There was zero reaction from anyone at the table. Only the Chinese _guzheng_ harp music the tea house played broke the silence.

"Lin… you knew this would happen, didn't you?" Alex turned and asked in English, still not showing his reaction, but Lin and every Viral in the Hive Mind could feel it… and it was not a pleasant experience.

"Yes… yes I did." Lin struggled to say, her mind struggling under the pressure of the Hive Mind. "I felt… this was… going to happen at… some point." Lin tried taking a few calming breaths but it didn't help.

" _Let me explain something to you Mr. Wong, while I hold family to high esteem, and though I do consider Lin to be part of my own family, marriage… and monogamy in general I find to be pointless things. I will not be marrying Lin, nor do I intend to change my relationship with her in any way._ " Alex said plainly and with zero shame but a great deal of respect. Alex found it funny that Mr. Wong's attendant looked like he was about to choke on the fear building up in him.

" _You understand why I must do what I must do._ " At that, a gunshot rang out and Alex slumped over onto the table with a hole in his head. " _Now, please, get back up… I am a busy man after all._ " Alex chuckled at that as he sat back up with his head still reforming, then fully laughed at the sight of the attendant throwing up.

" _Now that this matter is done with, let us discuss a deal between the Saints and the Triad._ "

* * *

Shaundi was currently reclining in the VIP section of Purgatory. The light show and music weren't exactly to her taste, but they weren't bad. Around her were the other members of the Inner circle of the Saints. Peirce was on her left enjoying a lap dance. Carlos was going over some of the latest numbers from their various incomes, he had turned into quite the workaholic lately. Luz was sitting across from her looking rather bored, without Alex around her personality took a deep nosedive. Maero and Jessica were sitting back together, both wearing their new purple outfits. Victor and Gat were absent due to them being needed to speak with the Cartel concerning their deals with the Saints, and Lin and Alex were speaking with her contact/grandfather in Chinatown.

"Hey Shaundi, something wrong on your end, because I've been going over what the Sons made and what we're making and it doesn't add up. It's like a ton of the customers for Loa Dust just stopped comin'." Carlos asked over the sound of the club music.

"Yeah, somethin' is wrong with our 'Dust. The junkies say it doesn't have the same kick as the Sons' stuff did. I gotta agree with them on that too."

"Could Laura gotten the mix wrong?"

"Nah, I trust her, that means the Sons definitely did something extra to their stuff, but the General says we're doing everything he did so… I think Sunshine might have done something freaky to it."

"I'll tell Alex because if that's…" Carlos was interrupted by the sounds of gunshots and screams coming from the staircase. The music stopped abruptly and everyone dropped to the floor as a crew of armed Ronin came walking in.

"Everyone listen up!" The lead Ronin called out, he was wearing the standard black and yellow gang colors but he and all the other members that were storming the club were wearing highly advanced body armor. "Here is what's going to happen, you are all going to hand over anything of value, if you try to fight back… you will die… if you keep anything from us… you will die… if we feel like it… you will die." All of the Saints crouching in the VIP section shared a look, they knew that these morons had picked their day well. Gat and Victor weren't present, so two of the four best fighters in the Saints were out. Alex would be gone for at least the next few hours. There weren't that many actual Saints in the club today, most of the people here were civilians. However, they had Carlos who was Evolved, but… there were way too many people around for him to start chopping Ronin to bits. That didn't mean that he wasn't useful.

"What's the plan with dealing with these guys?" Maero asked as the Ronin moved through the dance floor collecting valuables from the patrons.

"That body armor is going to be a motherfucker to crack." Carlos cursed as he eyed the high tech armor that the Ronin were wearing. "Looks like Shogo is pulling out the big guns."

"The armor piercing rounds and higher caliber guns are upstairs." Shaundi groaned. "Unless…" Shaundi looked over to Carlos who mouthed a firm No before nodding to Maero and Jessica. "… then we got dick." One of the Ronin spotted the gathered Saint leaders and smirked, the Ronin knew that they had the upper hand, though not for the reasons that matched the truth.

"Oh that's not good…" Pierce said before taking a discreet picture of the mocking Ronin for revenge for later. The Ronin soon finished collecting their loot, and after a few threatening shots to the ceiling and a shotgun blast to the Saints' precious Saint of All Saints statue, they left.

* * *

Alex stared grimly at the destroyed face of the Saint statue lying on the floor. He was mad. The Ronin had damaged his stuff. He **would** get revenge, such unholy revenge he would bring down upon these monsters. He would move heaven and hell just to make them pay for the damning actions they took. For by his name he will…

"Fixed." Victor said bluntly from behind him as he placed the replacement statue in the proper place.

"That's better." Alex sighed. His mind was really going to a dark place but now was better. "So what's our response to this insult going to be?" Alex said turning back to Shaundi who was sitting back on the staircase steps, Carlos who was leaning on the staircase railings, and Pierce who was standing nearby.

"I have a few ideas but are you sure that we can do this, won't it bring the Yakuza down on us?" Carlos asked nervously, since everyone in the Saints had been effectively scared shitless after Gat had told some stories about Shogo Akuji's father.

"Don't worry, I talked to Lin's contact and he says that the Triad will speak to the Yakuza and _delicately_ explain how this is a Stilwater problem. If _Certain_ outside forces got involved, then _Other_ outside forces would get involved as well."

"So basically unless the Yakuza wants a full-scale proxy war with the Triad, they'll leave us the hell alone." Gat chuckled.

"And at the low low price of… thirty… percent… of our income… for the next five years." Alex ground out, he _really_ hated that old bastard at the moment. Everyone suddenly felt their back pockets grow incredibly lighter.

* * *

"What do you mean that we won't be getting any more money?!" Shogo yelled into the phone. On the other line was one of his father's subordinates. The man never addressed his son himself anymore. "No, you listen here! I don't care what some old men did in the back room of some crappy tea house. Without that money the Ronin are as good as-… quit laughing!"

* * *

Author'sv Notes

Poor poor Shogo, I personally found the way they killed him to be... completely brutal. I mean I consider burring alive to be one of the worst ways to die.

Next chapter will be Ronin and a little Ultor, and again I know i'm wrapping SR2 up a lot faster than SR1 but I feel that it happened in the most organic way I could have done.

Reviews

rmarcano321 - PM yup.

Notsae - how'd you review twice? and yay you got it, I've been laying hints since the start of the story.

IAmPedobear - thank you.

helkil - I don't understand... how... what... so many questions... how could I make Blacklight Constructs Saints themed?

Reads too Much - sweat name dude, and it was more inspired by Gollum than YJ gnome but yes there is a comparison you can make there. And... that is a good idea... I will have to think about it.

Xalimech - thank you, and yes... things will be getting fun but just hold up... things in Stilwater might be wrapping up a little faster than expected but SR3 will not start at least until I hit that 200k mark.


	29. Business and Pleasure

Dane Vogel was an important man. That wasn't the boasting of an inflated ego, nor a personal observation. It was a simple fact, made real by the monolithic might of the Ultor Corporation. It was Dane Vogel that kept things running smoothly. He wasn't given a title like chairmen… yet… but one that basically defined him as the man that made Ultor a success, Head of Special Projects.

Ultor had evolved beyond a clothing company, not that it still wasn't one. It was the number one maker and retailer of clothing in America, both North and South, and currently fighting for the number one spot in Europe. But Ultor saw past its beginnings and had diversified. The Saints Row Reconstruction project was just the latest in a long line of successes in that regard.

Dane was the one who reaped the financial reward for many of the those projects. As a result, Special Projects had the largest budget out of every non-clothing department in Ultor. With such resources Dane benefited once more, becoming the most powerful man in Stilwater and, if all went well, the most powerful man in Ultor.

Currently Dane was doing some light paperwork. He had people to do the heavier stuff. All he now had to do was thee most essential reports and project recommendations. He leaned back in his chair and took a moment to admire his office. It was large, modern, and handcrafted painstakingly to the point of perfection, it fitted him. His mind was taken from his ego stroking by the sound of his intercom.

"Mr. Vogel, Head of Security Jackson is here to see you." Dane sighed at that, he didn't really want to see Dex Jackson at the moment. Indeed, encountering him anywhere outside the occasional Ultor cocktail party was something to be avoided. The man had talent in the boardroom, that was clear to anyone. Unfortunately, he was also antagonistic and his self-assurance was insufferable at times.

"Send him in Jaymie," Dane moved a few documents aside in preparation for the incoming headache. Didn't need Dex to learn about his own plans just by glancing at some random piece of paper. Dane leaned back and resumed his normal confidence.

"Dane… we need to talk." Dex said as he stormed into Dane's office. "The Saints are back, and from what I've heard they are almost in control of the city again."

"You've heard right, but isn't that what we want? One gang means less gang wars, and that means people are more likely to invest in our continued Gentrification of Stilwater." Dane said turning back and forth in his chair slightly, knowing the grating squeak put Dex on edge. From the glare he was getting, it was working.

"The Saints aren't just some normal gang." Dex said with a tone that came from someone who knew what they were talking about.

"Yes, yes, they are led by the _infamous_ Alex Mercer." Dane drawled sarcastically. "But considering the fact that since the Saints have arrived, property values have been going up… instead of going down. I see no problem." It was only good because Ultor had finished buying up all the property needed for the time, until that wasn't the case and they needed more. That was when Ultor would get involved. For the moment the Saints were good for business.

"They will destroy Ultor." Dex said firmly.

"No, they will destroy you… if they get the chance. Which is why you should have stayed out of Stilwater. With you here, they might get... aggravated." Dane said before standing up. "This is the corporate headquarters of Ultor and as a head of a department, you are entitled to be here. However, I highly recommend you return to anywhere _but_ here and attend all future executive meetings by video conference." Dane said with his million-dollar smile. Dex just continued to glare and frown.

"Mark my words Dane, the Saints will be the death of you." Dex said before starting to walk out.

"Consider them marked and forgotten." Dane grumbled before returning to his desk.

"Mr. Vogel, there's a Mr. Akuji here for you, are you finished with your meeting with Mr. Jackson?"

"Send him away Jaymie." Dane said dismissively. The Ronin were done for, that much was clear, and Dane no longer saw their partnership as viable.

* * *

"You have to let me in!" Shogo demanded Vogel's secretary. He needed to see Dane, Ultor was his last resource. All he had left since his father and the Yakuza had abandoned him was Jyunichi, and Mr. Momoi's special reinforcements. He still had the rest of his gang but that was barely holding on by a thread.

Shogo had heard that many were considering going to the Saints to see if they could get the same deal the Brotherhood got. Many had heard that the Carnales and the Vice Kings got the same offer. Shogo had to keep things in line, he had to or he was dead, either by the Saints' hands or the Yakuza. They didn't take kindly to failure.

"I'm sorry but Mr. Vogel does not have time for any more meetings today." The secretary said politely, she had long gotten used to irritable people coming to disturb her boss.

"I don't care." Shogo said pulling out a gun. "… I need to see Vogel now."

"Put that thing away…" Shogo looked away from the disturbingly calm secretary to the source of the voice. "… I'm Dex Jackson, head of Ultor security. I'm sure that I can handle anything you might need out of Vogel."

* * *

Alex let out a burst of fire from the submachine gun in one hand, causing the whole casino to startle before ducking for safety. _This_ was the decided plan for payback for the attack on Purgatory. The Ronin hit the Saints, the Saints hit back, straight at one of the Ronin's operations.

"Hello everyone!" Alex announced grandly as he walked through the line of slot machines, revolver in his other hand. " **I** … am here to rob you." Several security guards quickly came rushing to stop Alex, but each one dropped dead with a bullet in their foreheads before they could raise their gun. "If you could be so kind as to hand all your money and valuables over to my friends here." Alex casually said as he dropped the shells out of his Shepherd and reloaded.

Saints with duffel bags quickly began moving through the rows of slot machines and tables for various games. The casino patrons and staff fearfully handed over their wallets, jewelry, and expensive electronics. The Saints rapidly moved over to the cash-to-chips counter and began taking the money from there as well.

"Boss, cops have been called, we were able to keep the call from going through, but it wasn't the only one." One of the Saints said approaching Alex. "A second signal was sent to Ultor, while a third went to a private number overseas."

"This is definitely a Ronin operation… not Yakuza…" Alex may have overstepped the agreed-upon terms he had with Mr. Wong. "Hopefully it was just to Shogo's father or someone that was monitoring the Ronin." Alex said before walking up to the main water fountain display. "If I could have your attention once more!" He called out as he hopped up onto the edge. "Thank you all for you cooperation, but just know… this would have never happened if the Ronin had not pissed the Saints off. You lovely people would have had a wonderful day of throwing your retirement funds down a hole, if only there were different assholes running this place. The Ronin made the choice to fuck with us, and _made_ us have to retaliate. Enjoy that food for thought." Alex said, stepping off the display and heading out of the casino.

* * *

"Listen to me, Shogo, we are through." Dane said over the phone between him, Shogo, and Shogo's father who was overseas in Japan. Dane would prefer to speak with the senior Akuji but the Ronin were Shogo's fuck up.

"I understand that the Saints stole your money, but we'll get it back. I have all my top men looking for where they took it." Shogo reassured Dane as politely as he could. He had already lost enough face to his father, last thing he needed was for him to lose any more in front of him.

"It not about the money, though that is an issue. The reason I have decided to cut our contract short is because not only did you fail at your end of our Protection Contract, but it was you who brought this down on us."

" _Watashi no musuko no kōdō wa hazukashīdesuga, sonokawarini torikime o sai kōchiku shite shūryō suru kata ga yoi nodeshou ka_?" Shogo's father asked. The deal between the Ronin and Ultor was the last bit of good Shogo had done for himself, and the Yakuza had an interest in sticking around long enough for Ultor to offer the whole deal to the rest of their organization.

"Respectfully Akuji-san, no. At this point the contact between Ultor and the Ronin has brought more harm than good. The casino would have never even had been attacked if not for the actions of your son. We have testimony from the victims that the Saints announced the actions of the Ronin to be the main cause of their attack."

"That is a lie! They would have come for us anyway!" Shogo tried to defend himself.

"Maybe, maybe not, but they might have also done it in a way that wouldn't affect Ultor. I'm truly sorry, but my hands are tied Akuji-san… my lawyers will be arriving at the requested location and they will be ready to speak on a larger deal with your own group in the coming weeks." At that Dane closed off from the conference call. The line between son and father remained quiet for a time.

"Well Shogo, it seems that you have done some good in this little venture of yours." Shogo's father said this but his tone held clear disdain and disappointment. "I would say that have need of you back home, but that would be a lie. Stay in America if you wish, but know that I will not shame myself anymore with your foolish plans." With that the call was finished. All that was left was Shogo stewing in hatred and resentment.

* * *

Alex was currently going over a few figures in his office, Carlos sitting across from him helping like he always did. The Evolved gang lieutenant had become invaluable over the course of the Saints' return. Alex knew that he was right in making him his personal Gamma.

Laying back on the office couch was Gat, staring pensively at a vial of Blacklight in his hand. Alex had given it to him for Aisha, to make her a Gamma as well. Alex hadn't given Gat an Infected-level strain, as he knew that what the couple had was meant for something beyond what he had with Luz. When a person becomes a Infected they turn into a slightly less version of themselves. Like a bit of their color turns a bit duller. It would grow worse if they weren't tended to by Evolved, but it happened regardless. So the only possible answer for Aisha was to raise her up as an equal. The only thing keeping Gat from giving the Strain to Aisha was the reluctance to bring her into the darker parts of his life even further than she already was.

Alex knew that it was pointless. As immortal superbeings, there was little downside to giving Aisha the strain. Still, as Gat's best friend Alex simply understood that Gat was just cautious, Aisha was the only thing in his life that made him truly happy and didn't require the death of others to achieve. Alex was also on that list but to a lesser extent for obvious reasons. Alex mentally blocked that smutty Youi picture of him and Gat that Dana made to piss him off. It never happened. It just… it never existed.

"This is a nice place you got…" Alex was brought out of brain-scrubbing by the sound of someone entering his office. "I mean I'm glad I got my shots… but it's, eh, it's classy." The man that had entered said though it was clear he didn't mean it.

"Dane Vogel… what brings a member of Ultor's executive board down to Purgatory, I wonder?" Alex said as he leaned back in his chair. He knew exactly why: The Saints stole a lot of money from that casino, and some of it had to be Ultor's, but there must have been other reasons for Dane to show up himself.

"While I'm glad the leader of the Saints keeps up with Stilwater's power players..." Dane said as he walked over and sat down in the chair across from Alex. "I'm here because your organization stole a rather large sum of funds from Ultor, and we would like it back."

"Hold up…" Gat said suspiciously as he walked over. "So you're just going to ask for it nicely?"

"That is correct." Dane answered assured that was exactly what was going to happen. Alex analyzed the situation and the man sitting across from him. Everything about this felt off. For one thing he felt he should shoot Dane right here and now, but it was just the annoyed side of him normally went ignored in these situations. But it was there. Dane had walked in like he owned the place and with the complete confidence that he would walk away with the biggest possible prize. Yet the way he spoke and held himself wasn't necessarily arrogant.

"You gotta be fuckin'…" Gat said as he went for his piece.

"You'll have your money." Alex said with a tone that sounded slightly irritated but held no anger, just a little tiredness. Gat looked back at Alex with a questioning look while Dane just smirked. "The point of the attack was on the Ronin. Ultor just got caught up in it. Mr. Vogel, please send over papers confirming the sum owed, and it will be returned to you once we have confirmed the amount." Alex did enjoy having the experience and expertise of businessmen and politicians at his disposal.

"I'm glad we were able to come to this so quickly and easily." Dane said straightening his tie. "But I'm here for another reason. We recently severed ties with the Ronin."

"Aww, you're breakin' my heart." Gat mocked.

"Gat."

"Continue." Alex nodded to Dane.

"We felt that with your triumph over both the Sons of Samedi and the Brotherhood, you are posed to dispose of the Ronin as well, and the conclusion was reached that it would be best to cut ties before that period. Given you seem on returning our capital to us, it seems we made the right choice."

"So what do you want?" Alex asked bluntly, but he had pretty good idea. The problem was he had his own plans for Ultor given what they had done to Saints Row and the Church. Not only that but he had his eye on their corporate headquarters.

"The same deal we had with the Ronin. Now that the Saints are clear choice for Stilwater's top criminal enterprise, Ultor is ready to get on the ground floor so to say." Alex sighed at this and leaned forward on his desk as he thought this over. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what he envisioned. What Alex wanted in the long term was the complete takeover of Ultor's leadership. Making a deal with them now would move back his timetable considerably. But refusing had costs, and it would give Ultor all the power in any meeting in the future.

"For the moment let's postpone any deals." Alex said sitting back in his chair. Dane reaction was small but clearly unhappy. "Once we have finished off the Ronin, then we can speak. Preemptive initiatives are rarely successful." Dane had to concede that point, he had thought the Ronin would be the ones to turn out on top and while the arrival of the Saints couldn't have been predicted there was still an assumption that the Yakuza-backed gang would win.

"Very well. If that is all…." Dane said as he stood up. "Gentlemen, I look forward to our next meeting." He strolled out of the office, head held high, leaving the three men.

"Yo man why'd you just give up that cash?" Gat asked as he took the chair Dane was just sitting in.

"Because, truthfully, even with our deal with the Triad we no longer are in need of funds. We have enough to last us for a long time. Also, because Ultor is a major player in Stilwater whether we like it or not."

* * *

Atshushi was not… having a good day. He was currently in the panic room of the Church Complex. This was a room built after the Rancor incident, a fortress-within-a-fortress made for when something **really** dangerous had gotten out. For instance, his newest try at the stealth unit for the Hive. Only problem was the insect DNA he had used for this Blacklight Construct. He had used reptile, mammal, and avian DNA in earlier attempts, and nothing of this nature had happened. Apparently insects were different.

"You doing okay out there?" Atshushi asked through the intercom. The room he was sitting in was small, surrounding him was five feet of solid steel lined with lead. Stocked with him was a five day supply of food, water, and air. Yes, air. The door to the panic room was airtight and there were no other openings to the outside. This was a room to protect its occupant from a Blacklight apocalypse.

"It's like a damn horror movie." Mileena answered through the intercom. "Everything is so quiet and still. Every now and then I'll hear something in the vents but then things go silent." She said as she stepped soundlessly through the halls of the complex.

"These creatures are built with that in mind. They are meant to act as infiltration units, their purpose is to assassinate targets and to cause psychological terror through enemy ranks. Just be happy that there's just one."

"Oh thank you so much for not making a full pack of these things." Mileena grumbled. Her prey was crafty. When she first arrived, she tried to end this by forcing it to submit in the Hive Mind, but found that they weren't _in_ the Hive Mind. Alex had once told her that there were some Strains out there that were completely invisible to viral senses, and one of these was the strain Doctor Ragland had dubbed "Limelight". When she asked Atshushi if he had used this strain he confirmed it. But he said that the notes on the strain didn't say anything about the Hive Mind invisibility, just heightened senses, though he did admit that the notes on the subject were slightly damaged.

"From its current behavior I doubt it would function well in a pack." When he first reached the panic room, he had ordered the on duty Legionaries to capture the new Blacklight Construct. The creature quickly escaped through the vents and was somehow able to herd the Legionaries into an enclosed space, a setting where one might they would have the advantage, but no, the new Blacklight Construct had cut them all down quickly and silently.

"Are you _sure_ that it can't get out?" Mileena said but before Atshushi could answer she heard a raspy chittering noise. Only due to her enhanced hearing was she even able to detect the muted sounds that emanated from the creature. She knew it was right behind her, not just because of her senses and psychic awareness, but because that was just the cliché. Not even taking the time to form a bio-sword, she spun around and backhanded the dangling creature away from her. Her blow knocked it down from the ceiling and slammed it to the ground where she got her first full look of it.

It was roughly human-shaped, but very few of its features could be considered as such. It had spindly legs covered in small bony growths and ending in strange talon-like feet that were more built for climbing than attack. Its body was slim with more twisting bone growths that formed a light armor. Its arms were long enough that if it stood up straight they would touch the ground, but its natural hunch made it so they looked even longer. The strangest part was its head, it had eight beady eyes sunken into its elongated skull, but what drew attention was the mouth: It was a gaping hole that extended around the bottom of the whole head and down to the top of the chest, small little tubes poked out of the cavity that ended in needle like barbs.

The creature let out a screeching roar at Mileena before unnaturally setting itself back up, then launching back to the ceiling, and wiggling back into the vents.

"Nah, don't worry… I've triple locked down all the ducts, the elevator, and any other exits. It's trapped in here."

"Fucking great."

* * *

"You sure about this…" Alex asked one more time as he and Gat approached Aisha's house.

"Yeah… I know she's going to yell at me for not tellin' her but… you know… I feel like she'll forgive me." Gat said as they approached the door, only to stop short as they noticed that the door was already open, open and broken. Gat's hand leapt forward to open it further and bait whoever was in there, but Alex pulled him back.

"No, one wrong move and she's gone." Alex said quietly. He looked down at the vial of Blacklight in Gat's hand. Gat passed it to him without a word, once it was in his hand he quickly jumped up onto the roof of the house and walked over to the chimney. He checked the house with his thermal vision, homing in on the heat signature tied to a chair. "I got her… now this is going to be a little tricky…" Alex closed his eyes and concentrated. Out of the palm of his hand a tendril grew, carrying the vial of Gamma strain. Alex focused all his mental effort on shaping and extending his biomass out and down the chimney. Gat was completely silent as he watched his Alpha's act of supreme willpower. The tendril snaked out of the fireplace that was thankfully not lit. He didn't hear any shouting, so he took it that he went unnoticed. He moved the tendril through the house, keeping close to the walls and corners.

"Hurry up and tell me where your boy toy is, bitch!" Tsukasa demanded angrily as he slapped Gat's girlfriend. He had been given orders, and he intended to fulfill them. Even if it was for that has-been Shogo, he had a spotless track record and he wasn't going to let it be ruined.

"Fuck… you…" Aisha bit out. She might have landed in a little money and gotten off the streets, but she was still from the Row, and that meant something.

"You know what, he lives here… we don't even need you." Tsukasa said as he smirked, then pulled out his sword from its sheath. "But why waste what is such a pretty face… well… what _was_ a pretty face." He chuckled darkly in satisfaction that Gat's bitch was now missing an eye. "Maybe I should have played with you before… _playing_ with you. But that was then and this… what the fuck?!" Tsukasa shouted as he stumbled to the ground. The cause of this reaction was the mess of black goo that was moving all along his prisoner's body. As he desperately tried to crawl backwards, the monster in front of him stood up, tearing through the ropes holding her to the chair like paper. Her whole body was now covered in jet-black spikes resembling barbed wire. She looked down and screamed at Tsukasa, her mouth replaced with a snakelike jaw full of razor sharp fangs.

The rest of the Ronin that came with him all bolted toward the doors in terror, only to be stopped by two more black armored figures. These were more male-shaped and wore what looked to be heavier armor. The monster that had been Aisha looked up at the monsters standing in the front door and screeched again, the male responded with a low growl before pointing at the other who shrugged and then focused on the nearest Ronin. It picked him up and smashed the poor man to the ground, brutally stomping on his head as black and red tentacles extended out of its body and… it could only be described as eating the Ronin. After finishing off the man, the Monster pointed to the other two monsters and roared effectively causing them to back down a bit in submission. From there, it was a bloodbath as they focused entirely on the present Ronin.

* * *

"Jyunichi!" Shogo called as he entered his penthouse's living room. "Where did he…" Shogo then noticed a small card on the kitchen table. Shogo walked over and quickly grabbed the card, inside was a note from Jyunichi written in Kanji stating that Shogo's father had recalled him back to Japan where he might be more useful. The whole note was dripping in politeness, while at the same time it was very clear that Jyunichi couldn't be more happy at the development. " **Fuck**!" Shogo yelled, throwing the card to the floor and stomping on it.

* * *

"And just how are we going to clean this all up?" Aisha asked as she glared at her blood bathed living room. Although she would never admit it to them, she had found slaughtering the Ronin to be a wonderfully cathartic experience. Alex looked up at Aisha from the couch, not even perturbed by the blood on it, before clapping his hands. For a full minute there was nothing… and then three small creatures scampered through the open front door. They quickly began sniffing the air, and after making a few small squeaks of joy, began… the closest word for it was licking… up the blood. As they went, they left behind small trails of perfectly clean floor.

"Aren't those Atshushi's new gremlin things?" Gat pointed out from the kitchen.

"You shut your ass up right now! _You_ are not going to allowed in the same room as me for a looong time, and that includes your voice." Aisha demanded and Gat wisely complied. Alex, meanwhile, snickered at Gat for being whipped. "Don't think I'm not pissed at _you_ either." Aisha said turning to Alex.

"And yet you grace me with the privilege of being in the same room as you." Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Gat called out, still not having learned his lesson.

"I thought I told you to shut the hell up!" Aisha would clearly need time to cool off. "And for you… well… as much as I'm tryin', and I'm really tryin', I can't stop you or get as mad as I know I should be."

"The Hive Mind is already welcoming you. You also would be jumping my bones right now if it weren't for the fact Gat claimed you in the Hive Mind." That stopped Aisha a little.

"Wait… what?"

"Anyone of the opposite sex of the established Alpha will want to bang them instantly upon joining the Hive Mind. But, Gat claimed you… not only that but from what I can tell… he took it a step further and… I don't know what he did but from I can tell it's like you two are connected." Alex was telling the truth, while there was always a bit of space between the lights that made up the Hive Mind, Gat's and Aisha's lights were clearly touching each other. Almost looking like they might fuse together but just stopping short at that. "Given what I'm seeing… this would be the Hive Mind equivalent of marriage. Hey, since you guys are both going to live forever, you can at least name a kid or two after your favorite gang boss, right?"

"What…" All sense of anger left her at that. Aisha turned around to see Johnny standing awkwardly in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, his iconic glasses absent from his face.

"Babe, listen, when I…. I mean, when we… fuck. Alex, can ya give us a minute?" Gat finally settled on saying.

"Take your time, man." The boss of the Saints said as he got up and walked out the front door, closing it the best that its splintered state would allow.

"Johnny, what he said... is it true?" Aisha slowly said.

" 'Eesh, I realized a lot of things today. I tossed that vial of black gunk in my hands a couple hundred times, and the only thing goin' through my head was how you're everything I'm not. You got out, girl. You left the Row for a better life, and I stayed behind. You're the "girl done good", I'm the murderizin' bad boy. I kept thinkin' how I didn't deserve you, but you're the only one I could spend forever with... and apparently that's just not sayin' somethin' anymore. Without you, I ain't whole. If that motherfucker had killed you, I'd be back to being just a half. Shit, I'd be probably less than half. Tonight wasn't how I wanted any of this to go, but right now, I _can_ ask this." Johnny got down on one knee and took his girlfriend's hand in his. "Aisha, will you marry me? Will you make me whole until the world stops turnin'?"

Aisha smiled in spite of all she had been through. That had probably been the longest thing he'd ever had to say. She looked her man straight in the eyes.

"Of course I'll marry you, Johnny Gat, murderizing and all, you're the only guy for me. You got nothing else to prove that you ain't already done." Aisha Gat said as she fell into his arms. The two locked lips in a passionate embrace, and didn't come up for air until several minutes had passed. Viral biology sure had its perks.

"So what happens now, Eesh?"

"Well, once you've stomped every member of the Ronin six feet under, _this_ married couple can make time for a little honeymoon, I'm thinking we find a…." Her words became a whisper as she leaned towards her husband's ear.

Johnny "Let's kill some shit" Gat blushed as red as a tomato. He soon composed himself before looking around and snarling towards the front of the house in mock irritation.

"Boss! I know yer listenin' outside that door! If I head out and you're not sitting in the car, Alpha or not I'll beat your ass like a Cherokee drum!"

* * *

Author's notes.

First off, the newest Blacklight Construct I have made is basically the Terror Demon from Dragon Age.

Second, awwww… Gat and Aisha, I took not killing off Aisha and took it one step further… and made her Evolved… and then I took another step further and had Gat basically propose and marry her.

And a big thanks to Dracomancer1 for Beta'ing and helping me on Gat's proposal and stuff. Everyone be sure to know that my version of the events weren't nearly as… romantic or well thought out as it is now.

Reviews

Helkil – okay… the angels I think I might be able to think up something… but they aren't going to look very Sainty… I have to Blacklight them after all. As for a drug… no… because I couldn't see how other than maybe a mushroom or something like that but the biggest problem would be worrying about a out break… but maybe if I can figure it out.

Reads too Much – that might be by design… maybe something is going on in Alex's brain… hehehe

Xalimech – yeah the Brotherhood, I just like Maero and Jessica too much to really kill them off. So Brotherhood Civil war was all I was left with. Thank you for reading.

IAmPedobear – thank you and here you go.

Rmarcano321 – PM yup.

LORD DESTRYUK – I don't know what work of I'm assuming anime you are referring too, but I will look it up and think on it.

Notsae – That last thing… yes… but only as a side story where it is a bunch of OVAs and stuff like that. It will be called Alex screws with the Multiverse.


	30. We Own This City

DeVontae Garrett was counting the money from his latest deal. Business had been paradise since the Saints had come back and cleaned out the Sons. The protection fees they had charged for his corner out in Sunnyvale were stupid as fuck. Why, an entrepreneur like himself could barely make any money. But everything changed once the Saints rolled back into town, and DeVontae was happy to get his flags the second he heard about them.

Julius Little was practically the second coming of Christ to the brothers in Projects. When his gang first took over Stilwater it was like heaven on Earth, people didn't need to worry about the Vice Kings coming to steal your girl, sister, daughter, whoever. You also didn't need to worry about the Carnales coming in to shoot your place up just because you looked like a VK.

So when people heard Julius' right hand man was back and reforming the Saints, they began preparing for things to go back to the way they were supposed to be. Now things in the 'hood didn't change all that much, dealers still sold their shit, ho's still worked the corners, but what changed was the very air itself. It wasn't filled with tension or fear, and that was what the Saints brought. Well, on top of the shit ton of money that they dumped into the community.

"Hey!" The sound of an angry junkie pulled DeVontae out of his profit-counting thoughts. This had the effect of putting the Saints drug dealer in a bad mood.

"The fuck you want?" He knew he shouldn't be so aggressive to his clientele, but this one just pissed him off.

"I need the 'dust man, I need it real bad…" The junkie said, fitting every stereotype to a tee in a display of itching, mumbling, and being as creepy and pitiable as possibly as could be.

"Shit, all you had to do was ask." Devontae said perking up at the thought of a sale. "You got the green?"

"I'll give you anything, just gimme the 'dust." Devontae reigned himself at that, it sounded like this guy was looking for charity.

"Listen man, I only got stuff for customers. You get the green and then we'll talk." The junkie mumbled something DeVontae couldn't understand. As his words trailed off, he just stood there unresponsive. It was really freaking the Saints dealer out. "Yo, man… this silent treatment ain't gonna work. You need to go before the cops start thinking something's up." The junkie didn't respond and continued to mumble incoherently while not moving from his spot. "Okay, if you don't…"

 **"** **GIVE ME THE DUST!"** The junkie screamed as he jumped DeVontae. He was so shocked at the outburst that his attacker was able to get the upper hand. The struggle didn't last long, just long enough for the two to knock themselves to the ground and for the junkie to rummage through DeVontae's pockets for what he was looking for. It ended when two nearby Saints saw what was happening and ran over.

"Hey! Get the fuck off him!" One of them yelled as they ran over to help their fellow Saint. The junkie didn't acknowledge the threat, frantically scooping up as many baggies as he could before scuttling off.

"Get back here!" The Saint yelled as he aimed his piece, but the junkie ran around a building before he could get a good hit. "Fuck." He cursed under his breath.

"You all right?" The other Saint asked as she helped Devontae up.

"Yeah, crazy ass nigga surprised me is all."

"Should we report this to the boss?"

"Nah, druggies goin' crazy is nothing new."

* * *

"I'm gonna kill Gat… yup… gonna do it." Alex angrily mumbled to himself as he hid underneath one of the lab tables in the Church complex like it was a barricade in a warzone. "I will kill him most painfully."

"Alex… what exactly are you doing?" Atshushi asked as he looked down from his work to the man he supposedly most respected and admired in the world.

"Hiding… the last few days have been hell on Earth for me." Alex quickly replied.

"Hiding from what?" Atshushi said before returning to his dissection of the failed Blacklight construct that had plagued the lab for a total of three whole days.

"Luz, Lin, and Mileena. Ever since Gat proved that Evolved can take permanent mates, those three have been…. _after_ me. Luz does it the most bluntly, apparently she's planned a half-dozen different dream weddings behind my back. Dana makes sure to cancel any of her reservations, but she also follows me around asking when I will do what Gat did to Aisha in the Hive Mind."

"From what I know of the Hive Mind and what you told me of the situation between those two… if you were to try the same thing with Luz then the likely result would be total neural collapse. The Lights of the Hive Mind are representations of your own mind connected to the many. If someone as small as Luz within the Hive were to connect to you… her mind would burn out."

"I _know_ , I've tried tellin' her that. But her response is that the love between us will protect her. Bullshit. Love is a chemical reaction, it has no effect on the Hive Mind. Second, I am incapable of feeling that kind of attraction." Alex said with finality.

Atshushi said nothing to that, he and Dana had discussed this. They both came to the conclusion that Blacklight was not a likely cause of Alex's inability to find love. More likely, the sickness plaguing him was far more common: that of a wounded heart. Dana had told Atshushi that Alex's former girlfriend had been one of the first to get past the hard shell her brother built around himself. Thus, when she betrayed him to Blackwatch it hurt him deeper than he was willing to admit. Atshushi concluded that was a simpler explanation than Blacklight preventing Alex from feeling romantic love. If the latter were true then Gat and Aisha wouldn't have reached the state they were in now, given that their Evolved strains were derived from Alex's own.

"But Lin and Mileena are also reacting to this news." Atshushi said moving the conversation away from Alex's romantic issues.

"Yeah… Lin wants me to speak with her grandfather, _again_ … she knows that he scares the crap out of me. She's hoping to use that to advance our relationship… no way is that going to work. Mileena though… she's been the quiet one in this whole mess… and it's _always_ the quiet ones you have to watch."

"Aside from your…. harem, how has the rest of your Hive handled this information?"

"Donnie once again tried to proposition Lin but was shot down just as brutally as before." Alex smiled as he remembered Donnie's crush ending in flames for a second time. "A few of the Infected couples have followed their betters' example and have done exactly what Gat and Aisha did, with the same result. Many have used the words transcending, orgasmic, and one person even said that when his wife was near, he felt as if his very soul was the song Power of Love. So, things are pretty good… for everyone _but_ me."

"Hey… want to see some of the new stuff I got growing in the back?" Atshushi offered encouragingly, trying to pull Alex out of his bad mood. This whole situation was something he never thought he would have to do with Zeus.

"What kind of stuff?" Alex said brightly as he peeked out from under the table.

"Come on…" Atshushi said as he dropped his tools and started leading Alex to one of the other labs. His adolescent voice soon took on the tone of a college professor. "… Biomass is Blacklight's primary resource in creating anything. Right now we are reliant on Blackwatch for a real source of Biomass, the Biomass they collect from the New York clean up, but that is soon going to be non-feasible as the clean up as almost finished. The Imps are helping us stay away from turning to liquidating Humans for biomass, but if we were entirely relying on them then we would be very limited in research. The Fountains of Strains are effective, but the trial-and-error approach of hyper-accelerated genetic mutation takes a lot of biomass and not all of it will in the end be used in a productive manner."

"So, I'm assuming you've figured out a solution to this problem." Alex said as they walked through the complex.

"Right, everything in a Blacklight environment needs a source of Biomass, the problem is that it currently seeks out already formed biomass like humans instead of generating its own from ambient energy sources."

"We're talking plant life here. You've made Blacklight plants?"

"Yup… here we are." Atshushi opened a nearby door and Alex was met with rows upon rows of small life forms growing out of trays, UV lights hanging above them. Each one resembled a common variety of plant rendered in Blacklight-infected flesh. "Right now I'm only giving them enough light to keep them alive, I've calculated that if the it were on full they would began generating biomass. Until I make a way to naturally take the excess I'm leaving them like this." Atshushi said as Alex walked over to the trays. The Blacklight grass, as that was closest comparison, looked like small knotted twigs sprouting from a muscled surface that was heavily covered by the stalks. At the end of each was a single oval leaf surrounded by a crown of needles.

"How fast does it spread in an environment? And I assume it kills off anything in its way."

"I've tested it on a patch of grass, it doesn't spread so long as it doesn't produce more biomass than needed. If I were to plant this stuff out in the sun next to some dude's lawn, it would begin secreting infected biomass that would mutate any local flora into Blacklight variants of themselves. I've tested most domestic plants, they all have that same coloration and gnarled structure. Any leaves are repurposed into hyper-efficient solar collectors, larger things like full grown trees grow glowing veins from the leaves to the trunk too."

"This is great, we should buy an island and let this stuff go wild. How far will it spread?"

"Don't know… it didn't stop making biomass just because it infected everything around it. It of course ramped up production with the new sources, which means it was making more before I turned the lights down after it started to climb the walls. If planted on an island, it will only spread upwards and outwards, an undesirable outcome, which it why I need to make a storage system, like the Imps' sacks but on a whole other level."

"Is biomass the only thing it makes, what happens if fruit trees get infected?"

"Glad you asked…" Atshushi smiled as he started walking past Alex and toward the back door. Alex followed again and was introduced to another room of Blacklight wonders. Four trees, all the same black and knotted texture like the grass, but each in the shape of apple trees. "… I felt the choice was most appropriate." Atshushi joked.

"Yeah… biblical references, far out…" Alex mumbled as he approached one of the trees. At the end of one of the branches he inspected one of the strange Blacklight apples. It had the shape of an apple from an orchard, but that was where the similarity ended. It had central core with four red bands coming from the top to the bottom which gave it its shape. The reason Alex could see all of this was because the skin was translucent, furthermore he could also see a dark gelatinous substance swirling within. He reached out and picked the apple, surprised at how it snapped off the tree like a normal apple would. Alex inspected it in his hand and then turned back to the trees to see if a new one would regrow but one didn't. "How do they taste?" Alex asked not taking his eyes off the Blacklight fruit.

"You're asking me if I've eaten one of those things? No way, that's pure Blacklight, it's why the virus hijacked that part of the plant's biology to spread itself. I'd turn into a zombie the second the casing broke."

"Pure Blacklight huh… I think I might have an interesting little idea… but I need a test monkey. Say….." His gaze slid over to Atshushi and the prodigy's eyes widened in shock. "Nah… too useful…" Alex ignored the sigh of relief. "Veteran Child… maybe… Donnie… no he's already an Evolved… ooh this is hard…"

* * *

"So, like we agreed on, the plan is to herd the Ronin back to the northwestern part of Stilwater. There's still the fact that they are heavily bunkered down." Carlos said as he looked over the map of Stilwater, now finally covered in purple. Covered, that is, except for a tiny corner that remained yellow. Carlos, Shaundi, Lin, and Pierce were all sitting at a private booth in a local club. Purgatory was being fumigated since the roaches that they had tried and apparently failed at getting rid of the first time came back.

"They don't have much to stand on anymore." Lin said before taking a drink from her glass. "All they have left is a trickle of protection money and the odd drug shipment coming in via a small port they control."

"Then that's what we'll do… we'll go for the port and finish them off." Pierce stated, happy that the end was in sight and that soon the Saints would be kings of Stilwater again.

"Yeah… but it's not gonna be-…" Carlos stopped talking as he felt a ping of danger from the Hive Mind. Lin felt the same warning, and both discreetly peered around the edge of their private booth. What they saw was a platoon of orange and black-armored men marching through the club, next-gen weaponry locked and loaded. "They don't look like they're here for the two-dollar margaritas."

"Those colors are Ultor… what did the boss do to piss these fuckers off?" Lin whispered to Carlos.

"Don't know… we met with Dane Vogel earlier. Things seemed good then."

"Who else is in the building? Any of our people?"

"I haven't memorized everyone's name, but I can feel two Infected here, they're leaving with the rest." Carlos said as they all got their guns ready for a fight.

* * *

Alex walked purposefully through Ultor's corporate headquarters, not even caring about the alarmed demands of the security guards. He was displeased for many reasons. The Ronin were not breaking apart under the weight of his gang, even though they had no support and their leader was an idiot. His female Evolved were hounding him in an attempt to get him to choose between them for a mate, something he originally thought to be impossible. Now Ultor was gunning for the Saints, and his patience had reached the breaking point. Only one of those problems could be fixed with violence, but he was all too happy to use the threat of violence for another. That left the last one, which he was still unsure of how to fix.

Alex walked past the secretary of Dane Vogel and, without looking, fired a few shots at the floor behind him where the guards had been following. They backed off quickly and made for cover, but Alex continued to ignore their yelled threats as he entered Dane's office.

"Mr. Mercer… if you wanted to speak you could have set an appointment." Dane said in a slightly irritated tone.

"Why the fuck are Ultor G-men ambushing my crew?" Alex demanded without preamble as he reached Dane's desk.

"To my knowledge we don't have _G-men_ , and if we did… I doubt that we'd use them against a opponent that has proven able time and time again to beat the odds. But I'm sure you're going to provide evidence, otherwise you wouldn't be here." Alex silently slid over a phone preloaded with pictures of dead Ultor security forces, most of them posed in ridiculous ways with the Saints. Alex was immensely proud of his crew for that. "I see…" Dane said as he went through the pictures, ignoring the lewd and flippant imagery.

"Yeah… care to answer for this because this is a…"

"Dex… Dex Jackson did this." Dane said, outing his fellow Ultor executive without a hint of guilt. Alex just stared at Dane for a moment with the look of _The fuck did you just say_ on his face. "I'm sure you are aware that Mr. Jackson is the head of our security department, it wouldn't be that hard for him to arrange this."

"I see… and where might I find my old buddy Dex?"

"I don't have that information, but I can assure you that if I knew, I'd tell you."

"You don't like Dex all that much, can't imagine why."

"The man is… difficult to work with. Not only that, but despite how well he handles his duties he tends to do more damage than good for Ultor. He might have risen up from his criminal past but his mindset remains that of a common gangbanger." Dane said completely unafraid and unembarrassed in his present company.

"Well, lucky for you, you won't have to deal with him for much longer." Alex said as he began his walk out of the office.

"Remember Mr. Mercer, phoning ahead can be very useful." Dane called after Alex in a slightly serious but more joking manner.

* * *

"So where'd the boss go?" Shaundi asked as she laid back on Alex's living room couch. Around her was Carlos, Pierce, Lin, and Victor.

"He went to talk to that Ultor guy that came by Purgatory." Carlos answered. They were gathered to plan out the final assault on the Ronin's hoods. Only a tiny part of Stilwater was being kept out of the Saints' hands and soon that would be corrected.

"You think Ultor really is gunnin' for us? Might just be the Ronin playin' dress up." Pierce tried to put out there, not wanting to be going up against a mega-corporation like Ultor.

"Nah… that was Ultor, the Ronin have lost their Yakuza support and without that there is no way that they could bring in tech like that." Shaundi said remembering the guns the Ultor G-men were packing. If it wasn't for the fact Carlos and Lin both were Evolved then she was sure they would have gotten them all.

"Can we get back on track here." Lin said impatiently. "We need to finish off the Ronin once and for all. So let's get to work people." Everyone just kinda stared at Lin for a moment, then over to Victor who was chuckling at the woman. "What's so funny?"

" _Extraño cómo usted consigue solamente este ansioso ahora que usted sabe que el jefe puede tomar a un compañero verdadero._ " Víctor said more to himself than directly to Lin but he was loud enough for her to hear. Lin just growled at the accusation that she was only trying harder due to the prospect of impressing Alex enough to become his mate.

"Everyone calm down." Carlos said trying to put down a brewing fight before it began. "Listen, we all just need to figure out how to finish off the Ronin. Come on, it should be a lot easier then the Rollerz. They had something to fight for and Sharp's money was backing them. What do the Ronin have anymore? Nothin', so all we need to do really is starve them out."

"He's right, the Ronin aren't in a position to support themselves long-term." Shaundi agreed.

"So, what… we wait them out?" Pierce said slightly disappointed.

"Nope." Alex said as he entered the room drawing everyone's attention. As he walked into the room, he formed a bio-sword and pointed it at Lin. "Down! I'm not in the mood for mating bullshit." Alex said while edging his voice with all the authority of being the Alpha of the Hive. It was enough to cause Lin to back down for now. "We're taking Shogo down. Carlos!"

"Yeah boss?"

"You are leading the final assault, but take Shogo alive. I have plans for him." Alex said ending with a dark chuckle that terrified everyone present. "While you guys are doing that, I'll be handling the sorry shit that sent Ultor security after us."

* * *

Dex was working on his latest report to the Ultor board of directors. He was currently sitting at the small table in his hotel suite. It was maddening to stay in this room for any amount of time, he could smell and even taste every bit of filth that was in on the walls and furniture. He would prefer to burn it all, but he had learned to keep such destructive thoughts in check.

His plan to eliminate the Saints' leadership had failed only because he lacked the knowledge that Alex had made even more monsters. With the gear he had given his men, they should have spelled death to any normal gang of misfits like the Saints. As it turned out, the Saints had real forces of destruction on their side.

Dex leaned back in his chair, ignoring the small squeak it made, and sighed. It was infuriatingly difficult taking down this reborn Saints movement. He had thought of taking Dane's advice and ignoring the problem, moving away to live far away from Stilwater. And the idea of living anywhere else was exactly what he wanted regardless of whether the Saints were back or not.

 **"** **DEX!"** Dex was jarred from his thoughts at the sound of the door to his suite breaking down and the loud roar of Alex coming in. "You have some balls coming back to Stilwater!"

"Would you shut up?!" Dex murmured back as he clapped his hands over his ears at Alex's painfully high volume.

"Oh, you think I'm going to talk all nicely and quietly… fuck off!" Alex barked as he approached Dex. Dex responded by smoothly pulling out a pistol from under the table. It was strange-looking enough, but what drew Alex's eye was the winged star logo of Blackwatch on the side.

"You know what this is… it's a Blackwatch gun equipped with Ripper rounds. You know… the kind that can actually hurt freaks like you." Dex said quietly as he held the gun up to Alex's head. "A shot to the head might not kill you but it sure as hell will leave you damaged." Alex just continued to glare at Dex.

"This is the thanks I get for making you a millionaire."

"Fuck you, that was a shit deal and you know it. This power you gave me… It's a curse, I can barely enjoy all the money I've made, almost all of it goes to making my life livable! Soundproofing literally everything I own, importing specific foods that I can eat without throwing up, I could keep going on for hours." Dex said lowly, the relative tone compared to his normal volume making it clear he was screaming. "Whatever… none of that matters anyways…"

"Then stop bitchin' about it." Dex just responded by pushing the barrel of the gun into Alex's cheek.

"Like I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, it didn't matter because I knew that _I_ had won. You were in a coma and gone. And every day I lived through hell was a another fuck-you to your brain dead corpse. But then you came back… do you have any idea how that felt knowing that the past five years in hell was for nothing?"

"You know, If you really wanted you could have killed me, my body was completely human during that time." The look of shock on Dex's face was all Alex needed to knock the gun out of his hand and flip it on him. "Ah… much better." Alex said before pulling the gun away to eject its magazine, palming the chambered round, and breaking the firearm in half. "These fuckers are annoying… how'd you get ahold of them I wonder?" He said, holding the ammo to his eye and then looking back to Dex.

"Was saving them for Johnny, knew you made him into one of you so I needed a little insurance to keep him at bay once he broke out. Honestly surprised he stayed in jail as long as he did."

"That doesn't answer my question, where did you get it?"

"Blackwatch, not that they know. Ultor and the government did a little work together on experimental weapons. We were mostly looking into new kinds of body armor. The G-men brought in three of those pistols to test Ultor's product on as part of the final tests.'Course I knew instantly what they were really for, so I pulled a few favors and got my own."

"I see… so Blackwatch doesn't know you have it?"

"Not at all, they'd kill me on sight if they knew I had that or what I am."

"Good, that's all I need to know…" Alex started to lunge across the room to consume Dex, but the smile on Dex's face gave him pause. "You look pretty happy for a dead man."

"You're not going to kill me, if you do… then Blackwatch will find Dana." Alex stopped completely. "I have ten different fail-safes that will activate in the event of my death, three of them are tied to monitors embedded in my body that will detect the shock of being consumed. If any go off, then Blackwatch will get an email, a nice little goodie basket detailing where Dana is with all the proof of identity they'll need."

"I'll protect her."

"Yes… you will. You will, and then you'll expose yourself. We both know you don't want that." Alex growled before punching Dex in the gut and stomping out of the room. "See… I knew I would win… I… _rrrrgh…._ always win." Dex coughed as Alex slammed the door shut behind him.

* * *

Shogo was holed up in the manager's office of the small dock that he and his boys had _acquired_. Right now he was frantically trying to call in every favor he could to get himself and as many of his men off Stilwater's north island and to anywhere that he might be able to recoup his losses. Not that he saw himself being able to do that without his father's help.

"Listen… I know it's a lot of money… you know I'm good for it… quit laughing!" Shogo yelled before hanging up. "Why do they always laugh?"

"Boss!" One of his boys yelled as he ran into the room. "The Saints, they're coming down on us!"

"What?! What happened to the Ultor reinforcements?" Shogo demanded. He had made one last deal with the devil in the form of Dex Jackson. He was supposed to have given Shogo a clear way out of this place in return for the location of his father's criminal complex. Shogo had reluctantly given it to the man, half out of need and half out of spite.

"Don't know, they just left in their big-ass tanks and left us. The Saints rolled in after that."

"Fuck… okay… get everyone on the boats and we'll head for Detroit and regroup there." His boy nodded and ran back to the rest of the Ronin, leaving his boss alone. "Fuck Fuck Fuck! Damn it… come on… I was so close!" Shogo raged to himself as he slammed his fists on a nearby desk. The sound of gunfire drew his attention for a moment. "They're getting close…" Shogo looked to the back that led to the dock and then to the door that lead to the fight with the last of his men and the Saints. His mind weighed the choice between survival and loyalty. In the end, what decided it was what his father would do. Shogo chose the exact opposite. But when he opened the door that lead down to the firefight he was greeted by the sight of Saints enforcer Victor Rodriguez.

"Lights out _palo de golf_." Victor smiled before punching out Shogo.

* * *

Dane was finishing the last bit of paperwork before leaving the office to attend the board of directors' annual boat party. He was really looking forward to this one, certain that it would feature the announcement that he would be the next chairmen of the board.

"Mr. Vogel, Mr. Mercer is coming in to see you." Dane frowned in disappointment at this. He had told Mercer that he could set up an appointment so that these schedule conflicts wouldn't happen.

"Send him away Jamie, I have a party to prepare for."

"I'm sorry Mr. Vogel but I can't do that, I must not upset my Alpha." Dane was confused beyond belief at his secretary's words. He was so confused that he wasn't able to respond before Alex Mercer walked through his office doors followed by three men. The first was Maero, former leader of the Brotherhood, now wearing Saints purple. The second was being dragged behind the first, and Dane instantly recognized the unfortunate man as Shogo. The last was a tall African man in a white and green suit, Dane was guessing based on who else was with Alex that this was none other than the General.

"Mercer… what brings you here with such… distinguished company?" Dane tried his best to sound friendly but even a man as confident as him had to admit that he didn't succeed.

"Oh, I'm not done…" Alex smiled while the other two men looked a bit confused. Clearly they thought they were Mercer's main surprise. Alex looked back at the office doors and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened for a few moments but then… Dane could barely believe what he was seeing. Halo Elites, real life Halo Elites marched through his office doors and surrounded the men, taking key points in the office. Dane's inner Gamer was freaking out but the rest of him was freaking out for completely different reasons.

"And here I thought I was finished with devils!" The General shouted angrily as he glared at Mercer.

"What the fuck are you Mercer!?" Maero demanded as he dropped Shogo to the floor.

"The Blacklight Virus." Alex answered with all the smugness that he could gather, spreading his arms and allowing viral matter to ripple up and down his body. Everyone went into shock at the mention of the bioweapon that had destroyed New York. "Relax, gentlemen, you being turned into zombies is the farthest thing from my mind. I am what is called, perfectly compatible with the virus. My every wish is its command" Alex intoned as his right arm mutated into a black tendril-infused claw. "Shapeshifting, eternal life, total leadership of a vast Hive-Mind. Whatever is thrown at me, I will destroy. If I cannot destroy, I assimilate. If I cannot assimilate, I evolve, as I have been doing since I arrived in Stilwater six years ago."

"We really had no chance, did we?" Maero said but the more silent General also had the same thing on his mind.

"Never, but rejoice, Maero, you choose wisely in bowing your head. You held down the fort while I was out of the game, and I thank you for that." Alex said grandly before turning to the General. "You were brought here against your will, then when I saved you from an evil influence you responded with respect and reason, and for that I spared you." Alex then turned to Dane. "Business is business, I can respect a man that understands that. You never went after us and even if you planned on doing so, it was done according to your duty to your organization. That is perfectly fine." Alex turned back to the office doors and snapped his fingers once again. Dane watched as a young man in a lab coat pushed a cart with six… apples? They were shaped like apples, but the shades of black swirling within were clearly not normal. Following the cart was the Saints leadership: Johnny Gat, Carlos, Lin, Victor, Luz, Shaundi, and Pierce. Dane noted that they didn't seem to be that shocked by the Halo Elites, suggesting that they were either like Alex or in on the secret.

"Mr. Mercer… exactly what is your goal here?" Dane said warily as they all watched the cart reach the center of the office.

"The Saints have conquered Stilwater, but they are just the public face of my Hive. With Stilwater conquered, the only next step is to take the Saints and Blacklight national, and after that, global. For this I need people that can lead chapters of the Saints, new Alphas to lead new Hives. But! I need them to understand that **I** am the Supreme Alpha."

"You're going to turn us into you?" The General said, not exactly sounding like he would be opposed to the idea.

"Yes, you would become immortal viral beings, with all the godlike powers I have. Who knows, if everything works out….. maybe a little bit more." Alex turned back to the gathered Saints. As he did, his posture softened, becoming that of their friend and Boss once again. "Shaundi, Pierce. Both of you did a fuckin' amazing job, you have earned my trust…" Alex said as he grabbed two of the strange apples. "Thanks to Atshushi we have refined the Evolved Strain to its current form. Here…" Alex tossed both of the apples to Shaundi and Pierce. "… eat up. No time like the present" The two Saints looked at each other and shared a look of caution but both did take a bite of the Blacklight fruit. The second they broke the casing, the black contents oozed out and swarmed over their skin. "Then again, maybe it didn't really change all that much." Alex mumbled as he watched the two Saints writhe in pain on the floor before becoming still

"Holy motherfucking fuck… that… was the worst trip I've ever been on." Shaundi said as she tried to stand on wobbling legs.

"Christ on a fuckin' pogo stick… Carlos you bastard… that was a hundred times worse than what you said it felt like." Pierce grumbled not even trying to get up off the floor. The rest of the humans in the room minus Shogo all stared at the sight before them.

"And there you have it, the birth of two Gamma Evolved. But for you four I have something bigger planned." Alex said as he walked back to the cart. Alex picked up a small syringe filled with a black and yellow liquid. "This is an Alpha Hybrid Strain. It's the fusion between normal Blacklight and my own pure Strain. Maybe you remember Tanya Winters? Hers allowed her to control anyone she infected. It was the basis for the Serf Class of Strain we have now. But when she was first infected with it… it needed time to stabilize in her body." Alex said as he injected the Strain into one of the apples. The fluid inside the Blacklight fruit instantly turned yellow and black, writhing even faster under the clear skin. "It caused her to go into a berserk frenzy while her body adapted. My theory is that the apples will handle the stabilization, but why leave things to chance?" He said as he walked over to the unconscious Shogo. "Gat!" Alex called out and Gat eagerly threw over a cattle prod. It was smoothly caught, switched on, and jabbed into Shogo's shoulder, waking him up with a painful jolt.

" _Nani ga fakku? Namae: Seinaru fakku, dare ga yatta!_ " Shogo swore in Japanese before looking up to see the faces of people he really didn't want to see. "Oh no… I'm dead."

"Maybe…" Alex said as he crouched down to Shogo."… Hello Shogo… I'm Alex Mercer, but you already knew that. I'm here to give you a second chance in life."

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

'Because I know that there is some use for you yet." That was not the answer Shogo was expecting or wanted to hear. In his line of work, such words came before a torture session that ended with his head dumped on another's doorstep. "I have done research into you, I know that the last few weeks have been a real eye opener for you. Now I'm giving you the chance to become something more than a spoiled brat living off his daddy's name." Alex said before handing Shogo the virus-laden apple. "Eat this, and you will gain true power, power beyond your wildest dreams, and so long as you remember that I was the one who gave it to you… power that will let you take your revenge on your father for leaving you to the wolves." Shogo looked down at the strange looking fruit, now thinking that he might _actually_ be dead and this was some weird afterlife test of his soul. But the offer sounded too good to pass up. He had always resented his father for many reasons, his constant belittling of him, his unattainable goals, the fact he was so distant that the most Shogo knew about him was a name and rumors about what he did, but when his father abandoned him… that was the first time Shogo felt real hate for his father. And now the man that had destroyed his gang was offering him a way to get revenge.

"So what's it going to be?" Alex already knew the answer before the conversation even began. He watched with glee as Shogo's face turned to fury and he took a gigantic bite out of the apple. It was clear the unexpected and unfamiliar texture shocked the former gang leader, but that brief shock was quickly replaced by the abject terror of the black and yellow ooze jumping at him. Everyone took several steps back from the screaming body while the Legionaries all stepped forward with their swords drawn, ready to deal with Shogo should he go berserk.

"If he wrecks my office you're paying the damages with interest." Dane informed Alex who just shrugged. They all watched as the Blacklight Virus destroyed and rebuilt Shogo's body over and over again. But Alex was more concerned with what was going on in the Hive Mind. He could see Shogo's light forming, he was watching it swell and then shrink, and then swell and then shrink once again, It was placed a bit of a distance away from Alex's own system of Lights but close enough to where Alex couldn't help but watch. Soon the screaming stopped, and a Viral Alpha rose from the spot where Shogo Akuji had fallen.

The new Alpha was fully armored, though it was vastly different than the viral armor that Alex and his Hive had. It was more rounded, a smooth shell instead of the normal barbs and sharp edges. Rather than being a blood red color, it emitted a bright yellow glow. Shogo looked over to Alex, his head replaced by a faceless helmet that tapered back creating an odd look to it.

Alex could feel the instinctual hate that Shogo was giving off, but it wasn't wild like how Tanya had been on her first night of transformation. It was held back, tempered by feelings of gratitude, confusion, and indecision.

Alex quickly took the opportunity to dash forward, and with one elbow to the neck smashed Shogo into the floor, cementing his dominance as the greater Alpha. Alex had noted that when Viral Evolved change into their viral armor, their natural instincts increased greatly. By that logic, beating Shogo while he was in this form would likely cause him to submit to his own greater power far more quickly than any other time.

"There… now who's next?"

* * *

Author's notes.

And here we are… I have to say… SR2 is my favorite out of all of them but I feel the way I did this was the only way. I do feel a little bad about making it so easy for the Saints but again… this is the way I think it would go down with all that I have done to the SR world.

So now Alex has made in total, four new hives with Shogo, Maero, the General, and Dane Vogel as the Alphas. I plan on having the gang leaders being sent out into the rest of the US to establish chapters of the Saints and their new Hives. The only one I know I'm doing for sure is the General in Miami because I'm going to spin that as a Dexter crossover. It will be so much fun. Either start of season one or late season two. As for Maero and Shogo, not sure, ideas would be helpful. Dane is going to remain in Ultor and will be... doing things... wonderful things with clothes... you all remember that Ultor is a clothing company right? Well... I have such crazy bullshit plans that are only made even remotely possible by that one fact. KLK hehehehe

But one thing for everyone, if you have any idea for Maero and Shogo please inform me. try to find stuff for crossovers like what i'm doing for the General and Dexter. I would like to have one on each of the east and west coasts so please try to keep that in mind. Thank you to anyone that helps

Reviews

Xalimech - Thank you, and did you really think I was going to kill Aisha. I saved Lin, Victor, Carlos... um... who else... whatever.

IAmPedobear - seriously... you have no idea how happy that makes me... I know the feeling all too well and it makes me so happy to know others feel the same way for my stories. That is my main goal here and I thank you for taking the time to tell me.

LORD DESTRYUK - Shogo is now a Alpha. I find a redemption arc for him to be a neat idea. Given how shitty his dad was I can't help but feel sorry for him. And yes... Ragland is the final boss for this story.

Reads too Much - I know I did that... I really watered down everyone but the Sons but I think I gave good reasons for why that happened. The Brotherhood is local and they know how much of a badass Alex is and the Ronin are nothing without big daddy backing them. I think of those as valid reasons. And I looked up the Bayonetta stuff and yes a few of them look good so i'll keep them on the list.

helkil - Alex's hive is red, Mileena is just that color because she changed it herself. But I think now that Maero will have the color red and everyone is color coordinating, I'll have Alex go Hey... everyone is going purple now so do it. ANd there is currently only... one... Redlight being in the whole world but don't worry... he's coming.


	31. Future In Planning

**Author's Notes.**

 **What the hell happened? where did everyone go? I'm not mad, just a little shocked that everyone that normally does such a good job in reviewing suddenly dropped off the face of the earth. I hope everyone is okay and stuff, just weirded out that all of a sudden it happened. Oh well... if at all possible could you do me a solid in your reviews tell me what you thought of both this and the last chapter, stuff happened last chapter I really want to know your reaction to. Thank you and enjoy.**

* * *

The leadership of the Saints, Shogo, Maero, and the General all stared in awe at the sheer destruction wrought by the battle between Alex and Dane. Paintings were shredded, statues lay smashed after being used as bludgeoning weapons, walls were cracked, and several of the office's columns were tilting. Earlier, Maero and the General had both received their Alpha strains with little trouble, just a quick attack from Alex that asserted his dominance.

But with Dane that had not happened. He immediately roared and rushed towards Alex, full of rage and killing intent. Alex responded in kind, Gat having actually caught his best friend smiling before his face was covered in Viral Armor. Gat understood why, it was because the whole display meant Dane showed the most potential out of all of them. The newest Alpha wasn't so weak-willed as to have a momentary lapse in judgement like the others.

The fight had been completely apocalyptic while being contained to the spacious office. Which was good given that a fight between two Alphas tended to be loud and attracted a lot of attention.

Everyone present had just watched the fight passively. The Saints thought they would feel some kind of urge to go and help Alex but they actually felt a bit of push back toward those thoughts. Gat suspected that it was because this fight meant a lot more than a normal fight. They were fighting to determine who would kneel to the other. Gat had no doubt that Alex would win.

And Gat's expectations were confirmed as Dane's body whizzed passed them and crashed into the wall, his head having been thrown baseball-style. They all watched in fear as Alex marched passed them toward the unmoving Viral. Gat simply smirked at the sheer badass Alex was. Carlos and Pierce both gulped in terror. Lin, Shaundi, and Luz all really wanted to jump in bed with Alex, more so than ever before. Maero, Shogo, and the General all vowed to never piss him off ever again and thanked whatever god was listening that they had escaped their gang wars with their lives.

They watched as Alex pulled Dane out of the wall by his leg and threw him down onto the hard stone floor. Dane made a small animalistic groan, his body only moving a tiny bit. Alex placed a taloned foot on the other Alpha's neck and roared. Everyone felt a shiver of pure terror run down their spine at that. Dane's head slumped back down and his body shifted back from his viral armor to his human form.

"I yield… just thought I'd give a shot." Dane coughed, his trademark smirk not leaving his face even though his neck was being crushed. Alex stared down for a moment before letting off and then also shifting back into his human form. Alex reached down looking like he was offering a hand to help Dane up but when Dane went to take it he delivered one last punch to the man's face. A loud crack that rang through the office accompanied the punch and Dane slumped over unconscious.

"Good, now let's get to why I've done this." Alex said as he moved over to others gathered, leaving Dane out of it for now. "You three are going to go to some part of the country and start a new chapter of the Saints. Alongside it, you will form your new Hive. You will be given cash, as well as any helpers that you'd like to take with you if you have any. The choice of place is up to you." Alex said before he walked over to the large black marble desk that had survived the fight. "I'm now going to set the laws of all Hives. You can run your Hives any way you want but these are absolute, this is, as far as you are concerned, the fucking word of God himself!" Alex roared as he slammed the desk over so it faced everyone. "The first law, **Hive is Family, and Family is Sacred.** " Alex said as he rapidly carved the law into the marble with machinelike precision. "Second, **Alphas Rule, Betas Watch, Gammas Serve**. We as Alphas rule with the final say in any argument, the Betas watch over the hive but also the Alpha to make sure that the Alpha is worthy, and Gammas serve the Hive in any way they can. Third, **Any Infected or Evolved that is Claimed, is not to be touched by any but the person that Claimed them.** Maero, you make Jessica Evolved and claim her, not even I can touch her. If a Gamma claims an Infected, not even their Alpha can touch them. Fourth, **The Creation of Evolved is the sole privilege of the Alphas**. Fifth, **Evolved Outside the Command Structure of the Alpha Must Prove their Worth and Provide to the Hive in Some Way.** Sixth, **It is the Duty of the Alpha to care for the Infected in their Hive**. Seventh, **War between Hives is Allowed but Must Never Affect the Lives of the Infected or the Uninfected.** These are the seven laws that all Hives must abide by." Alex finished before cutting the written on slab out of the desk. "You three follow Atshushi, he'll explain everything you need to know about Hives, and what you can do as Evolved. Come back here in three days with where you want to go."

* * *

Victor was handling the latest shipment of Saints Loa Dust that had been produced at the Farm. While the rest of the Saints leadership was over at the Ultor building where the boss was making the new Alphas, he was down in the parking lot in front of the entrance to Purgatory.

Various Saints were unloading boxes full of Loa Dust, taking them into the mission house. Victor's role was to stand watch over the assembled Saints, making sure none of them got the idea of skimming off the top. Victor was keeping a tight eye on the product when something caught his eye. There was a small mass of bums over by one of the entrances to the parking lot.

"Fuckin' _desperdicios de espacio_." Victor grumbled before walking over to the massing of homeless junkies. Grabbing a shotgun as he approached, he cocked it loudly in hopes the intimidating sound would drive them off. It did not. "Ey! You all go get your fix somewhere else!" Victor yelled out to them but none of them showed any reaction. They just seemed to sway back and forth like grass in the wind. In annoyance at this, Victor shot the ground in front of them, but still nothing happened. He took a closer look at them, and saw they all looked completely clean of track marks so they weren't here for anything you injected. But they did look like complete shit, all of them skinny and sullen, clearly in the starting stages of withdrawal. " _Aquí es donde las cosas se ponen extrañas_." Victor mumbled before stepping back a bit. The massing of junkies didn't do anything as he moved over to the delivery truck. He grabbed one of the boxes of Loa Dust.

"Hey uh… you sure you want to give that shit up?" One of the Saints asked and Victor just stared the boy down shutting him up. Victor just had a gut feeling that right now was not the time to be reckless. As Victor threw the box over to the group of bums, each of them frenzied around it as if jolted by a live wire.

"Everyone get ready in case they want more." Victor cautiously ordered to the rest of the Saints, one of whom he knew to be an Infected so Victor knew that Alex would get some sort of message if things went to real shit. They watched as the junkies descended on the box of Dust, ripping into it like wild animals, even tearing into each other to get their fix, but then just as quickly as the madness started it stopped. The Junkies all stopped fighting over the Dust and turned back to the Saints.

"THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT SHIT!" One of them called out, it was followed by other screams of similar nature. The Junkies began wailing at the Saints about how the Dust they had wasn't real and they _needed_ the real Dust. Victor didn't understand any of this, as far as he knew they had replicated the Sons formula perfectly.

"We gave you motherfuckers what you wanted, for _free_! Be happy were not cappin' all of you." One of the Saints called out and Victor wished he hadn't. The last thing they needed was a mob this size to get even more pissed.

"THEY HAVE THE DUST! FIND IT! **FIND THE DUST**!" They all started shrieking like madmen and rushed toward the gathered Saints with complete abandon to their health. The Saints quickly began firing into the crowd, but they weren't able stop the horde before they made it to them. The Junkies descended on the Saints like a pack of hyenas, clawing at them with grasping hands and filthy fingernails as they looking for their prize. Every now and then they would find a pack of Loa Dust, but they quickly found it to be not what they wanted, each failure agitating them further.

Several of the Saints had been reduced to nothing but torn masses of meat and bones, completely taken apart by the Loa Dust addicts. Others were luckier and escaped with their lives but many survivors were now missing limbs and various body parts as the mob resorted to biting and ripping.

By the end of the attack only Victor remained and he was busy fighting off the increasing mass of ravenous junkies barehanded. By the time three minutes had passed he had punched the skulls of twenty addicts in. Even so, the sheer numbers of them had begun to get to him.

"HE'S THE LEADER! IF ANYONE HAS THE REAL SHIT IT'S HIM!" A particularly desperate junkie yelled, and soon the horde was able to beat back Victor's super-solider body with renewed vigor. The mob descended on the latino man with full fury once he tripped down to the pavement in a desperate backpedal. Victor continued to fight back even as they clawed, bit, and tore at him. Even as he felt his right arm get ripped off, he never stopped fighting back, refusing to let these _pendejos locos_ be the death of him. He survived Blackwatch, he even survived Alex Mercer, he was **not** going to let these junkies have him.

* * *

"Mercer… why is my desk ruined?" Dane asked carefully as he stared at the destroyed mess that was his custom black Portoro marble desk, the same one that he had paid out of his own pocket to import from a master craftsman Italy. The one that was now split in half with a rectangle carved out of it.

"I needed to make a point, and speaking of that…. _You_ need to learn these rules _here_ …" Alex said, turning to the slab of marble being held up by his Gamma.

"Mercer! I don't care about your silly rules! You have destroyed my office _and_ forced me to miss the party of a lifetime, the party where _I_ was guaranteed to be made the new chairmen of Ultor, a position-"

"You know, you can just make them all Infected and play with them like puppets." Alex interrupted, looking off to the side without a care in the slightest for Dane's tantrum. The subject of his ire stopped wide-eyed at that information. "So long as you follow rules one and six you can turn the whole of Ultor's leadership into your Hive, which means _you_ can play the rule-maker and _they_ will listen to everything you say as gospel."

"Is that so…? Well, I may have overreacted….." Dane said absentmindedly, lost in a daze as his mind went over this new information.

"Good… so long as you understand that Ultor is actually mine and you only are running it for me." Alex said with a savage scowl that was quickly matched by Dane's own. It was a very rare thing for his trademarked smile to leave his face but it did do so at times.

"I've worked **all my life** to be at the top of Ultor, I've turned down jobs at other companies because I knew that I could claim Ultor as my own. And now…"

"And what…?" Alex said, bringing all his mental focus to bear on Dane. It was harder than normal Infected and even other Evolved as there was a lot more resistance but the result was the same. Dane soon buckled under the intense mental pressure. "We already been through this, you are under me." Alex growled as he stomped Dane back down to the floor, his boot on Dane's ear. "When I say Ultor is mine… you don't argue, you ask, politely, 'how can I help you in doing that **SIR**!' " Alex punctuated the last word by smashing Dane's head into the floor. Alex walked back allowing Dane to heal from what should have been a killing blow.

"Haha… that's going to take time getting used to…" Dane chuckled as he stood up, cracking his pulverized neck back into place. "And would you look at that… not a single stain on my suit… nifty." Dane said as he walked back to his chair and pulled his damaged desk back up so that it might possibly be useable for the time being. "So if we're going to be Infecting the whole of Ultor's leadership then now's the time to do it. They're all on that boat out there…" Dane said turning back and pointing to the yacht out in the Stilwater bay.

"Sounds like a good idea. Exactly how many people are on that boat?"

"Including crew and passengers… I'd say around a hundred… give or take a few hookers not counted on the manifest."

"Good, head down to the Church Complex and Atshushi can hook you…" Alex stopped once he felt something wrong in the Hive mind. "Someone is in trouble… Fuck!" Alex swore as he leapt out of the office through one of the already destroyed windows.

Alex streaked across the Stilwater skyline, taking to the air for the first time in years. He had no time to savor the experience as he frantically moved to where he felt the disturbance. To his surprise, it was the Purgatory parking lot. Alex quickly shifted over to his Viral armor and crashed down into the pavement.

The nearby mob of junkies all stopped what they we're doing and looked over to the newly formed crater. They all looked on in fear at the very angry monster that soon climbed out of the hole in the asphalt. To them, it was the closest thing to the devil they had ever seen. The sight of it growing claws only made the instinct to run far away even more loud in their mind. And they all did so as it started walking toward them.

Alex watched as the junkies scattered, dispersing in every direction such that trying to catch them would be pointless. He would put the word out that the Saints were looking for junkies, and that they were pissed. They might lose revenue, but that was less important to Alex. He looked over to the fading signal in the Hive Mind and saw all that was left of the Infected was a pile of meat and rags. He then looked over to where the mob of junkies had been, and Alex immediately ran over to the body laying on the ground.

"You better not die on me Victor…" Alex mumbled as he shifted back into human form. Alex quickly checked for a pulse and to his relief there was still a faint one. Alex looked over the injured body, the biggest problem was the missing arm but Blackwatch's enhancements were keeping him from bleeding out so the biggest danger had passed for now. The damage to the rest of Victor, however, was massive, and it was only thanks to his super-soldier augmentations that he was kept even remotely alive. Alex quickly pulled out his phone and called 911. He knew right now the biggest priority was to get those that had survived this to a hospital, the bribes needed to keep them out of jail could be made later.

* * *

Maero, Shogo and the General all arrived at the cargo entrance to the underground complex that the Saints had built during the five years Alex had been in a coma. All around them were silos of red sludge being unloaded and brought inside from trucks.

The three had been led down here by the young man in a lab coat that had brought in the Strain Apples. He had introduced himself as Haga Atshushi, and he was the head of all research on Blacklight creation and strains. Most importantly to them, he was the only person Mercer had given his blessing to research Blacklight in any fashion.

"Okay everyone!…" the scientist began enthusiastically. "Alex has told me to explain the basics of being a Alpha. First off I guess I should tell you guess about what your Hive is. Most members of your Hive are going to be the Serfs, those are people Infected with the Blacklight virus, but they have a stable strain and so they don't mutate like crazy like what I'm sure you've seen in the videos from New York. Infected all act basically like they all are part of one giant club that matters above all else to them… so long as the Alpha takes care of them. They serve as your eyes and ears, everywhere all at once. Serfs will do basically anything you ask of them, if you want them to change jobs because it would help in your plans, they'll do that, and that's just one example."

"But this is all on the condition that we take care of our Infected, correct?" The General asked rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Yup, as long as your Serfs are happy, they'll commit murder in your name and be perfectly fine with it. No matter what happens, _they_ will know that their _leader_ knows best. But also keep in mind that you are to treat your Hive like family… though what you do with family in this sense is a bit twisted, but really this whole thing is a bit twisted….." Atshushi trailed off.

"What do you mean by that?" Shogo asked, he had enough "twisted family" issues to last several lifetimes.

"There is no easy way to say this so… I'm going to be blunt. All of the female Evolved in your Hive will want to have sex with you." The assembled three men all were shocked at that. "It's due to Blacklight twisting our innate instinct to breed. But we don't breed the same way as a virus and as far as we know, all Evolved are sterile. So this situation has translated into the Alpha of the pack being the one that gets the first right to breed. Alex believes that it would have the same effect on male Evolved if the Alpha was female."

"Time out, I have an issue with this." Maero said taking a serious tone.

"Du-u-u-u-ude, how the fuck could you possible think this is a bad thing?" Shogo said excitedly before receiving glares from both Maero and the General.

"You can claim an Evolved as a mate. Johnny Gat did it with Aisha, and she currently shows no sign of wanting to have sex with Alex." Atshushi said, calming the former Brotherhood leader. "Anyways, above Serfs are Evolved Nobles. These are Evolved that are allied with a Hive and are not officially part of it."

"And for what purpose would that serve? It sounds to me as if that would invite discord within our ranks." The General pointed out.

"Yeah, that would be true. You still hold the normal Alpha Evolved presence over them though. But in short, Evolved are far more useful than Serfs. They are more capable, more independent, and can handle much more than Infected, plus as your Hive grows you are going to need more help in managing it. Evolved Nobles can be made out of people you think are capable, not enough to want as a part of your Hive but part of Blacklight in general. They can have their own mini Hives of Infected and Claimed Evolved, but never of the level of Betas and Gammas. And these Noble Hives can be interchanged between Alpha Hives depending on where they might be needed."

"I see, clearly they do hold their use but we must be cautious in who we give this power to."

"That's right, but what you really need to be careful about is who you bring into your Hive structure. Those who become your Betas and Gammas, they need to be people you trust. Especially your Betas, because they if they personally like you and trust you then they can warn you if they starting to want to kill you."

"What?!" Both Maero and Shogo exclaimed while the General didn't even bat an eye to this warning.

"Survival of the fittest, Blacklight Instincts want only the best in charge. That means if you have a Beta that is getting super strong and could take you in a straight-up fight then they'll try to kill you and take your place. Or they might gain more allies both in and out of the Hive and they start to think they can run the Hive better or something like that. In the end, if a Beta senses that they might be a better option for the overall Hive then they start to have the urge to act on this. Don't worry too much, you are given a pretty big buffer in that your Alpha Strains are way more powerful than a Beta. A normal Alpha strain is comprised of ninety-percent pure Blacklight, ten percent junk DNA and maintenance genes to make sure it stays that way. The latter are just there to keep the Strain from going full blown crazy, since your bodies are unable to handle Pure undiluted Blacklight."

"Is there anyone that is?" The General asked though he had a pretty good idea what the answer was.

"Your boss, Alex Mercer, AKA Zeus, that's the codename Blackwatch gave him. His genome is naturally compatible with Blacklight."

"Yeah… he said something like that back in Vogel's office." Shogo remembered but everything was so crazy back then, it was just a blur to him.

"Yes, he alone from what we know is able to handle a one hundred percent strain of Blacklight. As I just said you all have a ninety/ten percent pure/junk strain. Meanwhile, Betas have an eighty/twenty, Gammas sixty/forty, and Evolved Nobles fifty/fifty. With that you'll only ever need to really worry about your Betas gaining barely enough of an advantage, but it is still theoretically possible for any Evolved to have the same results should they gather enough factors in their favor. Okay… that should be everything that you need to know. The rest you can learn from trial and error… that's how Alex has been doing it all this time."

* * *

"It's a miracle he survived at all Mr. Mercer." The doctor in charge of Victor reported in the normal clinical fashion, even pulling out the old miracle line. Alex had to Infect a few of the first responders from from the 911 call to get everything going smoothly, but he was able to get Victor and everyone still alive to hospital. They had lost two on the way here and another in surgery, but in the end three including Victor made it.

"Thanks, just…. just make sure that he wakes up at some point." Alex said sullenly before walking away, not wanting to hear if that was going to happen or not. Even though Alex knew that Victor wasn't an Evolved and thus more than likely not be in a conscious state like he was for his own coma, Alex still didn't want to let Victor stay that way. Alex walked through the white halls of the hospital, his face and name had long since spread through Stilwater and the news that he was back had also spread like wildfire, so no one dared to ask him why he was here or commit the suicidal act of asking him to leave. People instead just looked away in fear… or lingered on him in fascination and sometimes desire. Alex ignored them all, he was too preoccupied to even notice their gazes. Only one of the Saints that survived was awake and Alex needed to know exactly what was going on. "Is he ready to talk yet?" Alex asked as he came into the room, Carlos was already there and watching over the Saint.

"Yeah, but he doesn't got much." Carlos answered before stepping aside. Alex walked over to the edge of the bed where the injured Saint was resting.

"Boss… I'm… there was so many of the fuckers… they…" The Saint gasped out, trying to continue before Alex stopped him.

"Before you get to that…" Alex interrupted, taking out a vial of Blacklight and opening the top. The strain quickly crept out and jumped onto the injured Saint. The machines attached to him flared up as the Blacklight grew throughout his body, wrapping around the spine, weaving into the muscles and blood vessels, and lastly connecting to base of the brain. Once it was finished Alex fed the body a bit of Biomass so that its wounds would heal faster. But the most important part was that Blacklight was disconnecting the pain.

"Whoa… the fuck you do to me boss?" The Saint said as he sat up in his bed, feeling reborn. They all looked over to the sound of the doctors and nurses rushing through the door in response to the monitor alarms. All it took was the Saints flashing a savage grin and their guns for them to get the message to not disturb the group.

"So… what the fuck happened?"

* * *

"We have a problem… with how things went down with Victor, the boss is out there hunting." Gat announced to the assembled Saints. They were gathered in Purgatory, which had been closed until the problem with the rampaging junkies was dealt with. "After the shit in the Purgatory parking lot went down, a bunch of similar fuckups happened around Stilwater. Our boys out on the corners got ambushed by 'Dust junkies. The few that survived all said that they had been approached by druggies clearly hooked on the stuff and once they either bought or stole some of our product they came back pissed the fuck off that it was, in their words ' _not the right shit_.' They then would try to tear our boys to pieces so they could get their hands on some Sons 'Dust." Gat said pacing back and forth at the top the stairs.

"We confirmed that we have the Loa Dust formula to a perfect T so we've ruled out that we ain't makin' right." Carlos spoke up. "Right now we're goin' on the idea that Sunshine, the Sons' enforcer and voodoo witch doctor, did some freaky shit to the Dust that we can't." There was a few questioning murmurs to that.

"You heard that right, Sunshine did some freaky-ass shit and we just have to deal with it." Gat said trying to move everyone past that part. "For right now the Boss is going full-on badass on the bums. Best thing all of you can do is stay the fuck indoors and not look like a Dust junky." They all paled at the thought of Alex going on a rampage and getting mixed up with it.

* * *

"YOU! FUCKING! BASTARDS! HURT! MY! FRIEND!" Alex raged as he beat another junkie to death with their own arm. Each slam of the grisly weapon was followed by another curse. Once the current junkie had been taken care of, Alex threw the arm onto the growing pile of dismembered limbs. "Bring the next one…" Alex breathed out as a nearby Legionary brought over a terrified junkie. "Now… smoke this." Alex handed over a Loa Dust-filled lightbulb. The junkie quickly took it like the many that had been forced to. All feelings of terror were soon replaced by the gentle buzz of a decent high. "Okay you're good. Bring the next one." The Legionary nodded and then carried the blissful bum away. Another Legionary repeated the process, and then another, and then another. Suddenly, they found a junkie that threw the lightbulb across the room in disgust. Alex's fury reignited just as powerfully as before. "YOU! PIECES! OF! SHIT! THINK! YOU! CAN! SCREW! WITH! THE! SAINTS!"

* * *

The General, real name Keambiroiro, watched as the Blacklight constructs called Legionaries fought each other in mock battles. The battle was fought using full contact, and it looked as if they simply took any injury as a mark of pride, a badge of honor to be worn and displayed. The scientist, Atshushi, had said the creatures were still developing their culture and training methods, but the General felt they were certainly on the correct path.

"Look at those guys go… never thought I'd live to see something as strange as this." The General turned his head only enough to see the speaker: his fellow Alpha and former gang rival Maero.

"I've seen stranger, as well as scenes in similar nature. But never together." Keambiroiro agreed with the giant of a man. "Have you given thought to where you would like to set up your Hive and Chapter of the Saints?"

"I've actually been thinking about hitting the road, bringing together a ragtag group of bikers and trucks and roaming the highways, maybe starting out west." Maero said taking in the sight of the mock battle.

"An interesting idea, but you would need some form of income to make the case to Mercer."

"Bank robbery and hit and run stuff, maybe some weapon and drug smuggling. I've been talking with Haga…"

"It is _Atshushi_ , Japanese family and personal names are reversed." The General smirked as he flippantly corrected the uninformed American.

"Right…" Maero growled. The two had noticed that it was far easier for them to get ticked off at each other over the smallest things. Atshushi said it was just a natural competitive reaction, they just need to make sure to play nice and avoid fighting outright. "…anyways, he said that distance does matter for Constructs and Infected, but he thinks that Evolved can remain connected no matter the distance. So maybe I could set up a few Gammas around the country to act as safe houses."

"Now you are playing a dangerous game, you must remember that we must remain in the shadows. Having such singularities might expose us." Keambiroiro warned, turning all the way to face the fellow Alpha.

"The whole point of Evolved is that we trust them, right? Are you sayin' I'm not a good judge of character?" Maero said getting more and more pissed off with the smaller man… though with Maero's size every man was smaller. Both Alphas began sending waves of anger towards each other before being crushed by a much larger torrent of rage and irritation. As they were forced to their knees, they both could feel a suffocating impression of _I am not in the mood for this shit_ coming from Alex.

"Well… you can… give your idea to Mercer and… see what happens." The General said carefully as he returned to his watching of the Legionaries, all of whom had stopped what they were doing to look up at the Alphas. "Go on! Continue!" The General called out and they saluted and returned to their training promptly.

"And just where are you going?" Maero asked as he rolled his shoulders nervously.

"Miami… I have a score to settle with a man who lives there. Not only that, but I quite enjoy Cuban food."

* * *

Reviews

Reads too much - Sorry but LS is slated for something else... hehe... someone suggested Maero and the biker thing and I really liked it. As for Shogo, still looking and looking for US cities and also I have yet to see Black Lagoon so I would not be able to do it justice. But it will now be on my radar for the future.

Xalimech - Thank you, I liked all of them for differing reasons. Vogel the most. it will be interesting how I do this. As I only have solid plans for two.


	32. Crowfather

"Alex said he would be here." Gat muttered as he paced back and forth in the Purgatory office. Carlos, Shaundi, Pierce, and Lin all were in attendance. They were currently waiting for Alex to return from… working his anger out on the local homeless population. The information they had gotten out of the Saint that had lived through the attack had given Alex all the reason he needed to start hunting all the Loa Dust addicts down and to beat them most cruelly.

"He's just running late, I'm sure the boss will be here soon." Shaundi offered but knew that it was hollow.

"He better… I'm still very much in a honeymoon with 'Eesh, and every time he calls me out is time that could be spent with her." Gat said as he continued pacing back and forth.

"I'm just gonna say it…. if Alex kills all the bums in Stilwater… who's going to buy our drugs?" Carlos asked, and before anyone could answer Alex burst into the room, his entire lower body covered in dripping blood. He didn't say a thing until he walked over to his chair and sat down, not even caring about the staining of his chair.

"I'm… not so pissed-off that I'm thinking about killing everyone in Stilwater anymore." Alex said resting his head on his fist. "I have killed a total of three-hundred-and-fifty-one junkies, all of them freaky and fucked up in the head. I'm not sure if there are any more, but I want you guys to go out there and figure it out." Alex ordered, leaving no room for argument as the Beta and Gammas quickly left, not wanting to be around a mad and irritated Alex. He leaned back and tapped on his desk trying to calm his nerves.

"Looks like you're not handling this very well." Alex looked down and saw Mileena sitting in the seat across from him.

"No, I'm not… and I don't have time for you playing mind games to become my mate." Alex growled, he was still very much not in the mood for anything that might piss him off. Mileena just scoffed at the accusation, as if the idea of running around like so school girl crushing on a boy insulted her.

"Like I'd do something so childish."

"It fits with what I know about you… which in truth isn't that much. I know you're smart… more than you let on. You hate most people for reasons that I find to be reasonable and even justifiable. You have a hunger for living that matches my own though you're not nearly as open about it. You're also very secluded and very rarely open up to people."

"What's with the over analyzing all of a sudden?"

"I made you a Beta on a whim… one that turned out to be justified." Alex said continuing his train of thought. "But the reasons why it turned out so right have confused me, Gat had our friendship to hold him back from killing me… but you… our bond is one of convenience and mutual ideals. Neither are strong enough to keep you from eliminating me for five straight years."

"I have much more experience in ignoring voices that aren't my own." Mileena said evenly, getting more defensive. "Besides, I'm not one for leading. If I had killed you then it would be me leading the Hive." Alex didn't buy it.

"Irrelevant, Hive instincts would force you. Even Gat ended up a rabid monster with the singular focus of killing me. And ignoring Hive instincts I assume is different than actual Voices." Mileena didn't respond to the man's continued digging. She was doing what she had set out to do when she walked in. "But the original point I guess was why are you different than the rest of the women vying for me?"

"I'm simply much more in control of my emotions then them… the Blue Line kinda beats that into you when you join up."

"Lin had similar training under her grandfather… the stone cold bastard he is, I'm not doubting his effectiveness in that regard. And you can't say it's Beta strain either… that would actually work against you in this. So why aren't _you_ reserving wedding cakes?" Alex joked.

"And I'm finished." Mileena said standing up.

"Wait… what?"

"You just made a joke, and that means you've calmed down enough to where you aren't going to go making stupid choices." Mileena waved over her shoulder before leaving the room with a confused Alex staring at her completely dumbfounded.

* * *

"Exactly what is your game with Mercer?" Smoke asked as he approached Mileena on a nearby roof.

"There isn't any game, he is my Alpha and I am his Beta. It's a small price when you take into account what you get out of it." Mileena casually said not looking at the standing Illuminati agent.

"Immunity from the Voices, you really don't hear them."

"Sometimes I can feel them trying… but really… it's actually a little amusing. A force that once was so scary to me that it would keep me up at nights has been reduced to nothing more than a small triviality."

"That is interesting… but... that's not really what I was asking." Mileena's face changed from carefree indifference to tense irritation. "There is something about him that draws you to him."

"Yeah, it's called a hive mind."

"... and there you go deflecting again. You really are quite good at that." Smoke chuckled.

"Why don't you just come out and say it instead of dancing around it." Mileena growled not liking Smoke's playful banter, despite it being a little hypocritical of her.

"I think you love him. You love him in a way that is deeper than what the others in Mercer's little harem feel." Mileena stay silent. "You've always been attracted to power, and Mercer is certainly a powerful man. Beyond Zero squad and the five Omegas, I'd say he's the most powerful being I've seen."

"You still don't know a thing about me if that's what you think." Mileena said before dropping from the roof to the ground below

* * *

Dana continued to work on her laptop as she sat beside Victor who was still in a medically-induced coma. The doctors didn't have a clue to what they were doing. With all the experimental changes and improvements to Victor's body as part of Blackwatch's early super solider programs, the doctors here in Stilwater and likely any hospital had no idea how to completely heal him. They had been able to get him out of the most danger, but there was severe internal bleeding that was only being kept at bay by the same improvements keeping the doctors out.

Dana was attempting to hack her way into Blackwatch's deeper files, the stuff they _really_ didn't want people to see, the stuff they didn't even want their own people to see. The stuff she was trying to find likely had only been seen by the people that discovered the medical breakthroughs and were promptly killed after giving their report.

She was looking for any information on the restorative side of the super soldiers. There really wasn't that much on the topic. Sure there was plenty on the creation, but nothing on how to fix them should they get injured. Dana had thought Blackwatch would keep records of this nature so they could patch them back up, not for moral reasons as that wasn't in Blackwatch's range of emotion. They must have wanted to try to keep their investment alive at least, to try to save a dime here in there maybe. No such luck though, it would seem Blackwatch liked to spend money just as much as they spent lives.

"He's still like that huh?" Dana looked up and saw Luz standing in the door with a small vase of flowers.

"Yeah… still busted up, but he's breathing and at the moment not in danger." Dane watched as Luz relaxed at that news. "Aren't you supposed to be chatting with a florist or catering company or something?" Dana said returning to her laptop.

"For your information I have not given up on that, I'm just waiting for _mi querido_ Alex to come around."

"Ha." Dana said with all the dryness of a desert. "Right now, my brother is far too pissed, and even once he gets the bastards that did this he won't ever be open to any form of marriage. Hive Mind or otherwise." She countered, not looking up from her laptop.

"Your opinion." Luz scoffed as she entered the room and over to Victor's other side.

"Yeah… what do I know, I'm only his sister."

* * *

Alex was sitting across from Dane as several construction workers from Price's company worked on repairing the office they had both demolished. They all were former Rollerz and were also Infected so Alex and Dane could speak freely.

Alex was swiveling in his chair in a carefree manner, his mind still very much on his earlier conversation with Mileena. It had effectively taken his attention off the burning rage toward the bastards that hurt Victor. But that also added to his confusion toward the whole thing as that had apparently been Mileena's goal. But the way she did it had him reeling. So many questions he had come close to answering put back into play by the act.

"Mercer." Dane said rather impatiently, Alex may have made Dane an immortal superbeing, but the corporate executive was still a very busy man with a lot of work to do. Granted a lot of it had been taken care of by his new Hive. All of the board were among his now-faithful Infected, though they certainly grumbled about it all and made several threats, but Dane just did what Mercer did and _looked_ down on them in the Hive Mind. That shut them up **very** quickly. Now, he was running Ultor as he had always envisioned: with unlimited power and zero chance of threat from under him.

He had made his secretary Jamie his first Gamma and quickly claimed her. He now understood why she had went against his orders and let Mercer in, he had been her Alpha. But now Dane was her Alpha, and he rewarded all her loyalty to him these past years. As well as… enjoying the physical benefits of being at the top of his personal Hive.

So despite the earlier display among the wreckage of his office, on the inside he was very grateful to Alex for what he had done instead of the alternative of either being consumed or killed. Submitting to Alex was by far the best available option. Naturally, Dane still had some reservations on Alex's type of leadership as the Supreme Alpha. Mostly how said Supreme Alpha could at times be so childlike while lacking even the faintest sense of urgency. Despite this, Dane knew that at times when it counted he could be downright terrifying and serious. The story of how Alex and Gat saved an Infected from her abusive husband gave him no doubts about that. When Dane heard that story he wanted to tear the man apart piece by piece. He had never felt that brand of pure, burning hatred.

"Yes…" Alex said returning back to Dane. He had come not only to get his mind off Mileena's befuddling actions but to also learn about his new resource, Ultor. "… Now that I own Ultor via proxy through you…" Dane frowned at that comment. "… I need to know everything about it." Alex already knew quite a bit about Ultor from his absorbed memories as New York had once been a hub of corporate interests and so finding one or two people that knew about Ultor wasn't that hard to believe.

"Very well, although I will tell you that I advise you simply delegate the task of actually running Ultor to someone that is far more invested and focused on the day-to-day work than you."

"Oh… that is a good idea… but who should I chose… maybe Veteran Child?"

"Okay Mercer, that's enough." Dane said, not amused by what Alex was saying, before shifting into "corporate speech" mode. "Ultor is first and foremost a clothing company. We have a monopoly on both the production of clothing and sales to both the public and the major retailers."

"A complete monopoly? I thought was illegal, or at the very least very frowned upon." Alex asked rhetorically, smiling as he knew exactly how things really ran in the world.

"Ever since Citizens United, the government has been very… manageable, and we've been able to expand well beyond a simple manufacturing company. But that's history, you want to know about right now. At the moment, we have about thirty six brands that are very popular. About eighty of our other brands are are so-so… I can send you over the exact finances of Ultor but the long and short of it is that we are a Mega-Company, and all that comes with that statement. Currently we have control over ninety percent of the North American market, eighty-five over South America, sixty in Europe, thirty five in Africa and that includes the Middle East, and then… five percent in all of Asia and Australia together."

"Damn… why the big drop?" Alex was actually quite a bit shocked at that huge drop. To go from such a high to low from region to region was unexpected.

"Our competition, the _Revocs_ Corporation…" It was clear their mere mention left a bad taste in Dane's mouth. "...they hold the entirety of the the market portions we don't have, and that number has been going up in recent years. It's why Ultor began to diversify, we needed to buffer against the eventual loss of profit."

"Interesting… I have seen Revocs brand stuff… not a fan and… I have memories of people that have bought their shit. They are… conflicting to say the least."

"Well their fanbase is devoted enough that once a population is under their banner so to speak, we find it's just best to bail on trying to get it back." There was a growing edge to Dane's voice that Alex was able to pick up on.

"You're pissed… what'd they do to you?"

"Not me, Ultor. If Revocs hadn't shown up then Ultor would be the masters of the world apparel market by now."

"That's a little dramatic don't you think?" At that, Dane snorted loudly.

"If you think that's true, you should listen to Revocs' CEO, she practically worships clothing. But enough of this topic, let's move onto the specific diversifications of Ultor…" Dane said as he moved around a few papers and began going over some of the most important factors and locations for Ultor's bottom line.

As he was moving on to some of the more non-clothing related projects and departments of the company, the newly placed window behind them shattered as a hail of bullets rained down on the office, killing many of the Infected. Though the maelstrom of death, the two Alphas simply stayed rooted in their seats. Inside they both were raging at the fact they were unable to help the Infected workers as the attack came so suddenly. Just as the storm of bullets ended however and the Alphas moved to attack whatever had just killed their Infected brothers, a harpoon speared through the broken window and impaled Alex. Before Dane could react to this, the wire connecting the harpoon and now Alex yanked back, dragging its passenger with it.

The attack happened so suddenly that Alex could only respond at the last second by grabbing onto the edge of the floor, as the harpoon in his chest was trying to bring him out into the open air to be dangled below a nearby helicopter. He was trying to either pull himself back into the office where Dane could cut the cord or just let the harpoon rip through his body through sheer force alone, either outcome saved him. But neither happened as another helicopter came up and fired a rocket in front of Alex, blasting him out the window.

The Saints leader flew away from the side of the building, and was soon hanging back with a cord running through his chest and up to the helicopter carrying him who knows where. Alex quickly formed his Bio-sword, planning on cutting the rope and just falling to the ground. It was going to hurt like a bitch but he would be out of the hands of whoever was trying to kidnap him. But before he could even swing his arm it was blow off and the searing pain of acid replaced the feeling of having all four limbs.

"Did you really think I had just _one_ of these things?" Alex looked up and saw Dex standing in the hold of the helicopter. In his hand was another Blackwatch pistol with what he assumed to be Ripper Rounds.

"Dex! You are **really** trying hard for the top of my Shit List!" Alex roared up to the former Saint.

"Does it looked like I care?" Dex called back, smiling despite all the pain he was in at the moment. The complete sensory overload was madding, the helicopter, the guns firing, that last explosion, just being in the open air was excruciating. But he would endure it, just so he could finally end Alex. The helicopter began moving out to the water, taking Alex along with it. "I do know one way to end you, apparently you can drown, so I'm goin' with that."

"You little shit… to think Julius made you one of the first Saints!"

"Don't you fuckin' talk about Julius like you knew him!" Dex raged back. "You just showed up out of nowhere and you thought you could be in the crew?! Fuck that shit! You should have died back in New York and none of the messed-up shit you caused would have happened!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! If it wasn't for me, half of the Saints would be dead. The gang wars that Julius hated so much would still be going on!"

"You don't get it… Julius only started the Saints to end the wars, nothing more. He would have ended it all once we were done."

"Well that's not what happened! I'm not stopping the Saints, I'm not stopping the Hives, you can't change that now!"

"I guess not… but I can stop _you_." Dex said as they crossed over into open water.

"Fuck… this isn't good." Alex said looking around for any way out of this. He couldn't find it.

"I've figured out every possible angle here Alex! This has happened way too fast for your friends to come and save you! We're too far out for you to try and glide back to land, and there isn't a boat for miles since I bribed the ports not to let anyone out on the water today. You're shit out of luck." Dex laughed as he pressed the button to drop Alex to his death.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! **FUCK**!" Alex cursed as he began falling toward the blue expanse of Lake Erie. "Oh I'm so fucking tired of this shit!" Alex screamed as he frantically tried to figure out a way to escape. "This is going to be the third fucking time… wait… how did I do this the first time? C'mon, Alex, think!" He frantically thought back to first time he escaped drowning, the day he saved New York from nuclear fire and decided to change many things about how he thought about life.

Dex watched with glee as Alex plummeted down to a watery grave. He had finally won, for real this time, and he was seeing it with his own eyes. This made it all worth it, to witness it firsthand made it all worth it. All of a sudden he watched as Alex's body detonated. In the first millisecond Dex thought maybe Alex had decided to blow himself up rather than drown. But that was quickly pushed aside by the sight of a flock of dark black crows with burning red eyes flying up toward him. The flock of crows torpedoed through the helicopter, Dex tried to cover himself from the onslaught of beaks and talons.

"Thanks Dex, now I have a new power to play with." Dex's face turned to horror at hearing that voice. He turned around and saw Alex standing behind him, a few of the last crows entering his body in a flurry of Blacklight tendrils.

"The fuck… does it take… to put you down?" Dex said with ashen terror and zero confidence in his voice.

"You got a god on payroll? Because I'm thinking you might need one." Alex smirked but then returned to a serious tone. Holding up a sharp, slender claw, he effortlessly jabbed through Dex's gut and began syphoning off the Blacklight cells in his body. He was basically doing the same thing he had done with Tanya in making him a simple Infected instead of an Evolved. If Alex was being honest with himself he knew this should have been done the last time he had seen Dex, but that was then and this was now, and the upside was that he got a new power out of it. So Alex chalked this up as a win.

* * *

Gat was standing in the lobby of the Stilwater Caverns tourist trap. They had finally tracked down the nest of hobos and junkies that had been dogging the Saints to one of the caves in this place, and it turned out the Caverns were apparently bigger than advertised.

"They have a pretty good defense built out of scrap metal and planks and shit." One of the Saints that he had sent in ahead told him as he was being fixed up by an Infected with medical training. "And they're _still_ crazy as fuck."

"That's good news… means we got the right place." Gat smiled as he started to walk off toward the caves, leaving the Saint and Infected.

"Damn he's scary." The Saint said as he tried to collect his nerves.

"Well he is Johnny Gat, what'd you expect?"

"I know man! Just a bit different in per-…" The Saint wasn't able to finish as a flock of crows exploded into the lobby. The two men tried to shield their faces against the rush of birds flying past them and into the caves. It lasted for about a minute until all the crows poured by, leaving the Saint and Infected completely confused, only the Infected having any real clue as to what just happened.

Meanwhile Gat was walking down the paved path going down deeper into the cave network. He turned his head only slightly at the unexpected sound of many crows cawing. They came quickly and as soon as they were in sight Gat knew what they were.

"Just how long have you been able do that?" Gat asked, impressed, as Alex's body formed from the birds shifting into each other.

"Apparently since New York, you can thank Dex for reminding me." Alex chuckled as the two began moving toward their objective.

"What'd that fucker do now?"

"Harpooned me out of Dane's office and flew me over the surrounding water and tried to drop me."

"Shit, must have thought he had you finally cornered huh, really would think he had learned by now." Gat laughed along with Alex. The two soon came upon the small shanty town that the homeless and Dust junkies had built. Fires burned in barrels ringing the settlement, casting menacing shadows on the walls of the cave. In the center was a massive ramshackle statue of Mr. Sunshine surrounded by hordes of kneeling junkies either praying to it or just plain begging for more of the Sons' Loa Dust. "Damn… the fuck did that freak do to them?"

"Don't know don't care, but we should probably burn this place down too. And then collapse the cave just to be safe." Alex said as he scanned over the shanty town.

"Should we call Mileena in for this?"

"No." Alex snapped reflexively, he was still confused on that topic and didn't want to add to it in any way.

"Oookay… so should we get too murderin', or just stand around with our dicks in our hands some more?"

* * *

Dex stepped off the helicopter still reeling from what Alex did to him. While on the outside he was getting used to not knowing literally everything about his surrounding area, on the inside, he was happier than he had been in his whole life. He no longer had this curse hanging above his head and befouling his ears, nose, eyes, and tongue. He was a bit pissed at the fact he was demoted down to Infected but at least there was a silver lining.

"Hello Mr. Jackson, good to see you again." Dex looked up and saw Dane Vogel and his secretary standing behind him. With a grim realization, he instantly knew who they were.

"Fuck… now I'm your lap dog for real." Dex cursed as he tried to support himself on the helicopter.

"Yes, I am indeed your new Alpha. But considering that Mercer hates you, and the three others probably would follow his example given your history, I'm also your lifeline, the only Alpha in the Hive that would ever give you a chance." Dex knew that was true, but it didn't make the fact of how Infected acted toward Alphas and what that meant for him any better.

"Still your fuckin' lap dog." Dex spat back at Vogel. "And the worst part, the part that should make me want to hurl… I can already feel myself feeling perfectly fine with that. You see that's what so fucked up about you all, you change living people. Make them into your little toys."

"And in exchange we take care of them, Rule number one, Hive is family and family is sacred." Dane countered, his smug smile growing a bit at that.

"Well in my humble opinion that's a load of shit. You're still changing how people think, you're messing with them on a level that's all kinds of fucked up." Dane didn't respond, just kept on smiling. He then took the briefcase from his secretary and threw it over to Dex.

"In that case are two Apples of Evolution, one for a standard Evolved Noble strain, the other for a Hive Beta. _My_ Hive Beta." Dex looked down at the briefcase in his hands with disgusted awe, holding it at arms length like a live bomb.

"You really think I'm goin' back to that hell?!"

"Neither one is the Limelight strain that gave you senses well beyond what even the Alpha have. Just the normal Blacklight enhancements." Dane said calmly not the least bit affected by Dex's hostile tone. "Life is full of choices Mr. Jackson, and now you have your options. I will let you decide your path in this respect. Come on Jamie, we have a meeting to get to."

"Yes Mr. Vogel." Dex watched the two walk off toward their limo and then simply just stared down at the briefcase, unsure of what he wanted to do.

* * *

"I apologize for my absence these past few days." Alex said as he spun around in the chair he just sat down in. A chair Dane was going to burn the first chance he got. "But some… issues had come up and needed my attention." Alex said paying no mind to the fact he was completely drenched in blood and gore. Bits of tissue and bone dotted his body, blood dripping down from every limb. "But now that we have taken care of that, I'm all set on hearing where would you like to head off to, what have you decided?" Alex said opening the floor to the other Alphas in the room.

"I will be heading off to Miami…" The General stated standing up, the others a little put off by how he could so easily pay no attention to the amount of gore Alex was covered in. "… there is a certain man there, a man that I have an old grudge against."

"Do you have any other plans, because if that's the case you could hop on a plane and kill the bastard and then head anywhere else." Alex pointed out, but it was more to play devil's advocate. In truth, he approved of the General going to Miami, as a hub of international business and culture it was a city that could be quite lucrative.

"Oh have no fear Mercer, I have grand plans. With the money you will be providing I will be setting up local charities for the impoverished. I will come to the city as the savior it cries out for, but merely in appearance. I will use those same charities to find the members of my Hive and help them out of their poverty. The loyalty that results will be absolute."

"What about on the streets, your Saints' chapter?" Alex asked.

"Do not worry, I will be setting up a Saints chapter alongside my more public ventures. To the people I will be a white knight, but they will never see the monster that controls the streets."

"Good, proceed with your plan with additional funding." The General smirked at the jealous looks the other Alphas were giving him. "Shogo, your turn." Alex said turning over to Shogo.

"Oh… uh… San Francisco?" Shogo said not nearly as confident as the General was for his choice. They all looked at him, three a little disappointed while Alex actually thought there was some merit to it.

"Silicon Valley, lots of tech giants and innovators, all building a blooming future that is ripe for the taking… I approve." Alex mused, shocking everyone, not over the logic but over how he just ignored the fact Shogo didn't put that much thought into it. "Maero?"

"Yeah…" Maero said as he was brought back to the conversation. "… I was thinking I take to the road, a roving type of thing you know? A nomadic biker gang that sets up small safe houses and small time chapters and alliances wherever we go."

"That… I'm not too sure…" Alex said trying to think it over. "It sounds like a risky venture. Blackwatch isn't looking for us specifically, but they are always on the lookout for any hint of Blacklight or anything of viral in nature. Spreading out in that manner is very risky to say the least." Alex said as he continued to try to figure out this idea. He honestly liked the idea of a very mobile gang and setting up small gangs and safe houses around the county would speed up their plans for the nation. "Okay… here's what you're going to do, you _can_ do this, but you can't half-ass it. Your Betas need to be with you at all times. Your Gammas lead the Safe houses and have at the very least two Evolved Nobles attached to them or you don't do it at all. Minimal Infected around the Safe Houses, but with the main group everyone is Infected, understood?" Maero nodded in agreement. "Good, Vogel here will continue at Ultor."

"And what are you going to be doing Mercer?" Vogel asked noting that the Alpha had said nothing of his own plans for the last few days. Alex just smirked and it was terrifying the way he did so still covered in blood and gore.

"I'm thinking I already got Fortune, might as well go for Fame as well."


	33. Parentage

Dana stared at her brother. He was avoiding talking to her, and right now he was using Luz to do that. Unfortunately, he was about to find out how it was going to backfire really fast. Alex was at the moment in a very intense battle of tongues with one of his lovers on the living room couch.

"Alex." Dana called from the kitchen, just loud enough for him to clearly hear her. She received no response from either, Alex due to his complete lack of shame and Luz because, to Dana's knowledge, it was quite possible being watched was just another turn on for her. "Alex." He continued to ignore her, the only sound that followed was a small but noticeable moan of pleasure from Luz. "Alex… you forced my hand." Dana murmured before deciding to go nuclear. "What are your plans for your birthday next Friday?" In an instant the moaning stopped and was quickly followed a yelp of surprise from Luz as Alex turned to a mass of tendrils and escaped through the ceiling. "Well played." Dana grumbled as Alex had now left Dana to deal with a Luz that knew her love's birthday was coming.

"Is what you said true, the day my love came into this world will soon be here?" Luz asked with joy in her eyes as she hurried over. Her mood swing was not the least bit affected by the fact she was very close to getting to third base not ten seconds ago.

"Yeah… not that he would admit that he even has a birthday." Dana sighed as she prepared herself for what was coming. She launched the nuke so to speak, so she would have to deal with the fallout.

"What? Everyone has a birthday… it's the day we're born." Luz said with genuine confusion.

"If you ask Alex, he'd say he _wasn't_ born. He just popped into reality from nothing and then our adoptive father found him." Dana didn't react to the look of skepticism on Luz's face. "Alex has issues… he has a lot more now but he had a good few before the whole Blacklight thing."

"That's not true, my love is perfect in every way. He's too flawless to have issues."

"Wrong, Alex has a ton of issues." Dana said brushing off Luz's mindless devotion to her brother. "His oldest problem is the one with his parents." That had stopped Luz from making a counter to Dana statement that her love was flawed. She had always wanted to know about Alex's parents, she knew that he was adopted but she never knew why. "Most kids when they get adopted as a baby they aren't told they are adopted. Alex wasn't one of those kids, our father is very blunt… and has strange rules on what he tells us and doesn't. So when Alex was five and asked why doesn't he have a mommy like the other kids… instead of saying something normal… he just flat out said because you are adopted and your mom didn't want you." There was a pungent silence that followed that.

"What a horrible thing to say!" Luz said with a flash of anger across her face.

"Oh, that's just how he is… and that's how we grew up. Our father is very… eccentric… that's the kindest way to put it. But the result was what you would expect… apparently, Alex went into an emotion coma until dad brought me home and then Alex went back to normal now that he had something to take his mind off his own problems. Thing is, the problem wasn't fixed, just suppressed. Now we have Alex thinking that he doesn't have a birthday."

"So… what do we do?"

"I've been trying to get him to come to a party forever but… now that he's a shapeshifter with super-senses… it's become even more tricky." Dana sighed, knowing that she was likely never going to be able to win. "But we can at least…" Dana stopped talking at the sound of a crash that came from upstairs.

* * *

"What the fuck man?" Alex exclaimed as he reacted to his best friend punching through his master bedroom wall. He stared as Gat walked through the solid brick barrier separating his room from the outside, clearly agitated.

"I got a quick question boss… you said that Evolved are fucking neutered, right?" Gat asked in a low, abnormally serious voice.

"Uh… yeah… sterile through the normal human means of reprodu-… oh fuck… don't tell me that mated Evolved can have kids?!" Alex demanded, only to be made even more shocked by Gat's slowly nodding head. "Oh… that's… uh…" Alex quickly exploded into a flock of crows and made a second escape, this time through the hole Gat had just opened. The Beta watched as his Alpha flew away, only turning back at the sound of Dana and Luz running up to see what had happened.

"Gat! You know you can you use the fucking door, right?" Dana yelled, upset that he had apparently destroyed part of her home for no reason. "Where'd Alex go?"

"The boss… uh… freaked out when I told him me and 'Eesh are having a kid apparently."

"What?!" Both Dana and Luz exclaimed together.

"Yeah… I don't know how it happened either."

"You absolute dumbass! You're having a kid and your first reaction is to complain that it even was possible! How the hell do you think that makes Aisha feel?" Dana chastised Gat, whose face turned to one that said _I fucked up again didn't I?_

"Uh… maybe?"

"You go back to your wife and shower her with affection and love right now!" Dana ordered pointing to the hole in the wall as if to say get out. Gat was caught up in the fierceness and feminine authority in the order so much that he did just that, running out of the hole and starting to fly toward his and Aisha's house. "Dumbass…" Dana mumbled as she pulled up her tablet to start the process of getting the wall repaired.

"Wow Dana, never thought I'd see you so fired up about something like childbirth."

"Yeah, well… Alex isn't the only one who thinks family is important."

* * *

Dex sat in his hotel room with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He had been spending the last few days enjoying the simple fact he could enjoy anything and everything. But unlike Mercer he had stopped his hedonism and returned to his normal serious self.

He was at the moment staring at the two Apples of Evolution lying innocently on the table in front of him. One was for an Evolved strain and the other the Beta strain. Both had their good and bad sides. And both preferable to staying an Infected.

As a Evolved Noble he would be free to make his own smaller Hive and not have to directly deal with the larger Alpha Hives. He had heard about Joseph Price and how he was doing. It sound good but as a Evolved Noble, he still ranked under the Gammas. The Evolved Nobles were just barely above normal Infected, and while they were technically only allied to certain Alpha Hives, they were still going to be tightly controlled by them.

But as a Beta he was far more involved than he wanted to be with the freakiness that was Blacklight. He would have to deal with the hives on a daily basis, he would have to deal with Dane on a daily basis. Not something he wanted but he could deal with. The only real upside was the fact that he would be only second to the Alpha in power. And since it would be with Dane's Hive, that meant he would be the second most powerful man in Ultor.

Both had their merits and flaws but the problem was that Dex still didn't want either of them. He hated the idea of getting involved with this in any way shape or form. He wanted nothing more than to be free from this whole Blacklight nightmare and go back to being a normal man again.

"Shit… why'd I have go snooping around Alex's crap. If I had just kept to my business then none of this would have happened." Dex groaned as he remembered how this all started, how he went looking for evidence for Julius that Alex wasn't loyal. "Life has been nothing but trouble since that fucking doctor put that shit in me."

"I truly am sorry for that." Dex snapped as he heard a deep, echoing voice carry around the room. He then felt strange… like his senses were even further dulled and he was cut off from the world. He quickly recognized this as being separated from the Hive Mind. "I will admit that Limelight was a failure of mine and it was not a suitable strain for what you needed. But you were strong , you survived." Despite the room being brightly lit, Dex wasn't able to pinpoint where the voice was coming from or the source of the slithering noise that accompanied it.

"Who and where the fuck are you?"

"My name is Ragland, I was the doctor that gave you Limelight. And I can give you a way out of this. I may not be able to give you what you truly want… freedom from Blacklight entirely. Once Blacklight gets ahold of you… its claws dig deep."

"So what are you _actually_ offering?" Dex demanded impatiently.

"If you cannot escape Blacklight, then you should have the right to choose whose side you are on." At that Dex watched as a slimy ooze began seeping out of the wall, pitch black with small streaks of gray and glowing white. Once it finally left the wall it reshaped into a wriggling serpentine construct. Two rows of earlike appendages lined the back of its long head, and six lifeless eyes tracked Dex's every movement without blinking. Below the strange eyes were two mouths, one large and looking much like a angler fish while the one above was a lipless mockery of a human's. Dex was thoroughly disgusted as the thing moved across the floor and wrapped around a nearby chair for support while the rest of the creature hauled itself upright. "Pardon our meeting like this, but it had to be done in this manner." The voice came from the upper human-like mouth but it only barely opened and closed. Dex could feel the actual words reverberating in his skull, as if the creature was speaking right into his head.

"The fuck is going on?" Dex mumbled to himself, not sure of what he was seeing.

"Your confusion is perfectly understandable, but it is neither needed nor preferable to further our meeting." Dex could swear he had heard that voice before but he just couldn't place it exactly. "To answer your question earlier, I offer a way out of Mercer's Hives and into the opposing side."

"And just why are you the opposing side, if you're really are the doctor that gave me Limelight then doesn't that make you part of Alex's crew?" There was a long silence after that question, then faster than Dex could even hope to understand the monster before him leaped out and ensnared him in a mess of coiling tentacles. To his shock and horror, its snakelike body was really dozens of tentacles wrapped tightly around each other. He sat deathly still as the rows of Angler teeth were placed above his neck.

"Please do refrain from saying things like that… it unnerves me." The voice was calm but Dex was far more unnerved than whoever was currently threatening him. "I am simply a differing party when it comes to Blacklight. My vision for it is in contrast to Mercer's. That's all you need to know." The man said and the monster slowly released Dex and slithered back to its previous spot.

"Fine… I'll hear you out." Dex said rubbing his neck.

"All you need to do, is leave this room without the objects Alex's new pawn left with you…" Dex glanced back at the Apples of Evolution. He knew that was asking a lot, they both held strains that were vital to the Mercer's Hives. Giving them to this guy was dangerous unless he could be assured that it couldn't be traced back to him… and there was a slim chance of that. "… and if you do so, I will take your mind and place it in another body. A clean body." Dex widened his eyes at that.

"What the fuck? But… but… then everything I worked for would be for nothing!"

"You still have all your passcodes, bank accounts, and computerized identification. All you would need to do is empty them all out, and with a new body you couldn't be tracked down." Dex paused at this information, this man was right in that regard but he didn't have nearly enough cash and assets to live off of the rest of his life.

"That would only last me so long, and has much as I hate to admit it… I doubt I'd be able to make back my fortune without Limelight giving me all that inside info."

"True… which is why you need patronage." The voice said smugly, as if there was a joke Dex couldn't possibly get. "Someone to support you from behind."

"Someone like you?"

"Possibly. I personally am not opposed to it, but all I need from you are what Mercer gave you. Once I have that, our business will be concluded unless you wish to continue it. I doubt such a thing will happen given your opinion on Blacklight, but I'm sure there are others you might have in mind." Dex looked off to the side, that was true… he did have one last card to play. But, he needed to make sure of something.

"Why even deal with me, you had me dead to rights a second ago, so why not kill me and take what you want?"

"Because this is a deal, not a heist, and if you don't take my offer than I will simple remove the memory of this event and be on my merry way. I have other means of getting what I want, this isn't the first time I've tried to procure an Evolved Strain, and if this does not work out it won't be the last. It matters not in the end."

* * *

Alex sat on top of the Ultor building. The wind was thrashing around him at the extreme height but he sat, unmoved by the high-speed gusts. He was currently avoiding… everyone. The news that procreation was possible via mating in the Hive Mind was spreading fast. He knew that Gat and Aisha weren't the first Blacklight beings to have a child… well… there was one… but Alex didn't want to think about _her_. It was a subject that he felt very uncomfortable with.

He was thinking about the various Infected that were having or had kids. The Infected after all were still mostly human. The kids that had been born were born clean, and Alex had decreed that once they had turned old enough they would be given a choice… and if they chose no… he would have to scare the living shit out of them to prevent them from telling… if Alex felt the situation called for it.

But Gat and Aisha were the first Evolved that would be having kids. So many questions about this were flying through his mind. The biggest ones related to the state of the Evolved child once they were born. Would they be deformed, grotesquely mutated beyond anything resembling a human child, or worse… could they become something he would recognize as a threat. Could they become something more than what he was given, would they be born Blacklight, infinitely more compatible with the virus than even him? Would they be born with the genetic knowledge of the hundreds of thousands of people consumed by Blacklight? If this was what was going to happen… would he feel the need to kill it before it even took its first breath in this world? He felt no such urge now, but at the same time he didn't feel it in the Hive Mind, so his Blacklight Instincts weren't bringing their weight to bear.

His more optimistic mind was more focused on what should happen if nothing went wrong. What if he _didn't_ feel the need to kill it, what if it wasn't a deformed abomination, what if it was just a small humanoid being, with or without Blacklight?

Should it be nothing but a normal child then he would play the favorite uncle that brought beer and weed when they were old enough. If it was a boy then he would do his duty, take him to a Saints-run brothel when he came of age, and make sure to get the hottest hooker in the whole place. If it was a girl, then he would be right there with Gat scaring to death any boy that dared to even look at her… it was a horrible double standard that Alex recognized, but he didn't care.

If the child was a Viral being… and wasn't a threat… then his role would be relatively the same. Just… a little more involved. He had no doubts in his mind that at some point he would to make his dominance clear to the child. Alex hoped this particular instinct would only surface at an older age. But Alex would make sure that everything would be perfect for the child, and they would grow up knowing what they were. He would do everything in his power to let them know that they weren't any better or worse than a normal person.

There was also a niggling possibility in his head that if Gat had a Viral daughter… then it would be likely that she would be part of his Hive Mind, and viral instincts would run their course. But this was a small thought that he crushed down in denial.

"So I assume you heard the news." Alex looked down and saw Mileena climbing up next to him.

"You are developing a very irritating habit of showing up when I don't call." Alex frowned, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to be truly annoyed at her appearance.

"I'm not just your personal super-ninja you know, I'm also your Beta which means that I have some obligation to keep you company and to watch over you." She said as she sat down next to him, she also was not affected by the high speed wind that ripped around them.

"You're supposed to watch me for weakness."

"No, I don't think that's all we as Betas are supposed to do." Mileena said looking out over Stilwater. "You think if we throw rocks from this height it would kill someone?"

"Maybe…" Alex said but he already knew the answer given the memories he had in his head. "… but let's not try it out. Might hit one of ours." Alex said trying to decipher what Mileena was doing. "And by the way yes, Gat came straight to me after Aisha told him… wasn't a good move on his part."

"Do you know how she found out? Because it could have been the normal way."

"No clue… maybe it was just some Blacklight instinct thing, I don't know." Alex shrugged. "This was just so unexpected, but then again maybe I should have seen it coming. I mean everything in Blacklight does make some weird sense, like the idea that we can't have children until we've chosen a mate… in some ways… in others it makes no sense. But that really just follows Blacklight's normal MO."

"Have you ever thought about having children?" Mileena asked causing Alex to look at her, eyeing for any hidden meaning or trap. He only answered once he found none.

"To tell you the truth, yeah, a lot. Before Blacklight and everything. Back when I was with Karen…" Alex didn't notice the small dent in the Ultor building under Mileena's hand, nor did he know about the bong that had just shattered in Shaundi's hand, nor the unfortunate shot glass in Lin's. "… I always wanted kids, never my own though." That surprised Mileena but not that much given Alex's history. "I personally know that there are enough kids in this world without a home. I know it sounds cliché for someone who was adopted to want to adopt for that reason but it's still a good one."

"It's just… I didn't have the best of childhoods. It was just my sister and me and while there wasn't a system to set us up with a foster family to start with where we lived, it would have been nice just to have someone. Even better if they understood what we were going through."

"But now… I don't know, lately things have been feeling off. I've been enjoying life way more than I ever did then I did before and yet… a piece feels like it's missing. It really started to get to me when Gat confessed to Aisha… something about the whole thing felt… fuck if I know." Alex exclaimed unable to properly describe the emptiness that had been hanging within him the last few weeks. The woman before him remained completely silent throughout his speech. "But right now I'm not thinking about me, I'm concerned about the child currently on all of our hands."

"Strange… that something as private as this normally is, is now affecting so many."

* * *

"Eesh... if you're done throwing things at me then I'd like to say sorry for the seven hundred and… thirteenth time… I'm sorry for freaking out and leaving you like that." Gat pleaded from behind the couch. He was expecting another random object to fly by his head just like they had been for the past four hours but none came this time. Gat decided to take a chance and peered over the sofa, still expecting this to be a trick and for some vase to come crashing at him. But still none came, instead he found Aisha huddled in the nearby corner. Gat's fear and caution quickly disappeared as he went to his mate's side. "Eesh… I'm not going anywhere.

"I know that you fucking psycho…" Aisha mumbled not moving from her small corner. "… that's not why I was mad."

"Really… because I could have sworn I heard… I'll be shuttin' up now." Gat said quickly after seeing the glare she gave him. "But uh… why are you pissed at me?"

"Not at you… well… I'm always pissed at you for something but most of the time it doesn't matter. You bolting off when I told you… what I told you… I expected you to do that. Hell, I expected you to do that even if we were still normal humans. But I knew that you would come back, and you did… maybe a little faster than I thought you would." Gat decided that it was probably best not to tell her why that was. "But I blew up because I was mad at myself… the first thought I had when… it just came so fast… one second I'm going over some of my old records and then I just knew it. I was going to be a mother… just this sudden rush of _knowing_ came and then…" Aisha couldn't finish as she started crying again.

"Hey… you can tell me 'Eesh… I maybe not the most sensitive guy or some shit but one thing I can do is listen to you for hours. Just unload everything and I'll just smile and nod like I always do." Aisha looked back up to Gat feeling like she should be mad at that but the idea of her just talking and dumping all her issues on him felt good, and his strength and honesty in times like this was a part of why she fell in love with him. That love burned more fiercely than ever, even though she knew how likely it was that he wasn't going to be paying attention to half of it.

"I felt… I just couldn't feel at all happy about it. I love where everything is, I love you and how you're back in my life for good now. I love this weird-ass Hive Mind connection we have, I can't put in words how great it feels to feel you like you're never far, and the idea of anything changing it… it… I just couldn't… and then I hated it. It's going to be our child and I couldn't feel anything for it, it was just some… _thing_ threatening us and our happiness. I only felt that way at first… but I still felt…"

"Listen… you shouldn't care that you shocked or freaked the fuck out a little by all of this. I mean… come on… this is some big news. But we'll have all the help in the world with the crew and the Hive, things won't change that much."

"I guarantee that I'm going to quote you on that."

"Fine go ahead, but listen 'Eesh… nothing is wrong with you freaking out. You want this kid right?"

"Of course I do! It's our kid and… fuck… we're having a kid…" Gat smiled as Aisha laughed and the whole thing began to further settle in. He wrapped his arm around his mate and sat next to her as she continued to unload all of her worries on him.

* * *

"So, you're the first bird to leave the nest?" Alex said jovially as he watched several members of the Saints load up a large cargo ship with trucks, bikes, one gigantic semi-truck, and lots of guns. All of the Saints were former Brotherhood members and from what Alex could tell it was what was left of the Brotherhood. And all of them Infected and part of Maero's Hive as demanded.

"Yeah, we're heading out. Don't worry, I'll follow your orders." Maero started to recite as he also watched his men loud up everything he would be needing. "We'll be hitting the highways, setting up safe houses and bases in small town America. One Gamma and two Nobles per base, like you said."

"Good, this will go a long way to help setting up a national network for the Saints. Just make sure that you keep an eye on _all_ your little projects." Alex warned.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not letting another Rex situation happen again. So are you really going to try to become famous? I thought you were trying to hide."

"I've gradually changed my facial structure enough to fool anyone at Blackwatch with prying eyes, and if anyone on the outside asks, I'll just honestly tell them that Stilwater has a plastic surgeon on every street corner. It'll suck that I can't go back to my high school reunion, _oh hey you're a lawyer, I'm a fucking gang boss Superman ha-ha-ha_. I even whipped up a great stage name, but I'm keeping that between me and Dane."

"You're really sure that you're going to be able to pull it off, you are talking about becoming famous for being a criminal."

"Me and Ultor are simply gonna jam it down people's throats, eventually it'll stick." Alex said with a shrug. He wasn't particularly worried about his plan. Truth be told, he was doing it on a whim, but it sounded like a good idea. Give a public face and brand for the Saints would make it harder for his boys to be classified as gangsters. Wearing Saints' purple and flying the Saints flags would no longer be a clear signal that you were in the gang. Camouflage among the acolytes of the brand. Not only that, but any fans they had would fuel any Saints chapter and might even spawn some outside of Alex's control. That may have seemed like a bad idea, but it would work to confuse the Saints' enemies, and if the Chapters turned out to be worth the time they could be brought into the fold. "So before you go… I want to see it one more time." Alex said with a slightly goofy smile on his face.

"Really… come on Mercer, it's not really that funny."

"Do you really want me to pull the Supreme Alpha card?" Alex said semi-seriously, and Maero sighed. He shifted into his Viral armor reluctantly. Like Shogo, Maero had been given a Hybrid Alpha Strain, and as such his Viral Armor form looked a bit different then Alex's barbed and angular profile. Maero's looked more feral, with fur like tendrils covering his back, the top sides of his arms, and forming a flowing mane of Blacklight fur coming down from his head. The armor part of the whole thing was less like the plates of Alex or Shogo but instead like an extremely thick hide, durable yet mobile. Unlike the faceless helmets of Alex and Shogo, Maero had a canine-like head with snarling teeth and three darkened lupine eyes, the image rounded out by long pointed ears. The whole thing certainly felt very werewolfish. But this wasn't what Alex wanted. "Go on… I'm waiting." Maero growled and then howled up into the sky, Alex turned back to the former Brotherhood Infected and they followed their Alpha in howling upwards. He was enjoying this particular quirk of the Alpha/Hive connection very much.

* * *

"They seem to be doing something… but I can't tell what." Scorpion stated as he watched the movement between the garage that led down to the underground lab. There had been a lot more activity there lately.

"Gearing up for war, we did know that Zeus has been expanding his numbers pretty rapidly as of late." Jax guessed not liking the implications of that fact. Still, they were ordered to just stay and watch, he sent report after report but nothing new came up. He thought that after the Sunshine mess the Director would take more action but nothing. Just glorified memos telling them to continue as they were.

"Zeus isn't Ares, he has little interest in war. Well… open warfare at least." Smoke offered. "Expansion and infiltration are more his talent."

"But now we have more than one Alpha to deal with." Jax said rubbing his forehead trying to relive some of the stress forming. "I just don't understand why the Director is letting this happen, if he is planning on replacing Blackwatch with the Blacklight Hive then why have us just watch them instead of actively helping them."

"It's not our place to question the Director, he has led the Long Watch for longer than any of us could even begin to understand."

* * *

As he sat down at his desk and lit up a cigarette, Troy awaited his death. He knew it was coming. He had thanked his lucky stars that he and Alex had that understanding back at the Church when he came back. But even so, Alex had done it. He had taken back Stilwater and way faster than Troy ever thought possible. It took him half the time Julius had needed.

The Saints were in charge of the city, that much was clear. There had been three separate protests outside city hall calling for the whole local government to step down and let the Saints run the whole damn city. It had gotten on the national news network, and the hashtag **#GangsterMayor** had been trending for the last few days. It was getting crazy, he had heard rumors that the National Guard could be brought in to take control of the city. Troy knew it might on the surface seem like a meaningless gesture by some asshat politician, but the second it was put into action would be the start of a nightmare.

Troy knew for a fact the Saints had the people's support for good reasons, they weren't just some fad or stupid prank. It was real, and the Saints took care of people. The crime rates had dropped dramatically. Everything you could think of had disappeared overnight, from noise complaints to civil disobedience, and the number of domestic calls the station was getting had dropped like a rock.

But still, he was a dead man. He knew it was only a matter of time before his men started asking why they weren't coming down on the Saints. The mayor wasn't asking for it, Alex had saved his life before being put in a coma and so he had city hall in his pocket. So if the police started bringing the heat down on the Saints, Alex would take it personally. He would see it as Troy himself going after the Saints, finishing what he started five years ago and all that shit.

"Fuck… if I go after them I'm fucked but if I continue to sit on my dick like this… people are going to start getting pissy." Troy mumbled as he shakily put out his cigarette.

"Oh Troy, stuck in between a rock and a hard place." Troy looked up from his desk work and saw Alex sitting across from him. He did his best to control his fear but he now knew that was never hidden from Alex. "But don't worry, I'm going to fix everything."

"And in the process of fixing everything, I'm not going to be alive by the end."

"Troy… I am hurt. I'm not going to kill you."

"Is Gat gonna do it?"

"No… he might not be happy that we're not killing you, but he's too busy with his wife and coming child to bitch about it." Troy dropped the newly lit cigarette at the mention of a maniac like Gat having a kid. "I know right, big news. But this meeting is about you and me; you, me, and the future of the Saints in Stilwater. I have some big plans in the works, plans that will see us spread across the nation, and I am currently working with Ultor to make the Saints into the next big brand. Imagine, t-shirts, video games, bobbleheads, all that merch shit that people eat up, and to get the ball rolling much of the Saints leadership needs to leave Stilwater. So, I'm going to need someone to watch over the Saints and people here while we're gone."

"And you want me? Why the fuck would I do that… oh yeah… because you'll kill me if I say no. Not exactly the best foundation for loyalty Alex."

"Tell me… have you started treatment yet? And yet you still smoke… not helping your odds now are you?" Alex asked casually to the shocked look on Troy's face. "I'm guessing you don't have that much reason to live… life after the Saints wasn't what you pictured it to be. So you've reached the end of the line, and you're actually hoping to off yourself via your lung cancer. But… I've got to ask you…" At that Alex picked up a briefcase and placed it on Troy's desk. "… If the Devil offered you an escape from hell on earth, something to give your life meaning and heal you of all your aches and pains… would you take it?

* * *

Reviews, only responding to those posted for the last chapter.

IAmPedobear - Thank you.

Notsae - Only ever watched the abridged DBZ Broly movie, and I was under protest in the beginning. But with Victor Blackwatch has sensors and shit in his body and Dana has refused. Not due to the lust thing but for her own reasons.

Hypnosis Writer - yes... yes he is... but he's Blacklight, he'll adapt to the situation and grow stronger.

Reads too much - Yes, internet cookies for guessing right.

Legionnas - haven't seen you since chapter one, and yes I am. Ultor is clothing company so it makes sense... kinda.

Rmarcano321 - PM

death444 - considering the fact Viral Mates was one of the main inspirations for this story, brother/sister action is by not a problem to me... in stories... but anyways no, Alex and Dana will not.

Xalimech - yeah... but its all good now, and thank you.

Helkil - yes... very much yes.

Saul'keth - the five Omegas are like solo beings outside the Illuminati but are just too damn OP to ever hope of bringing them into the fold. Alex will meet a few of them and so far only one of them will be around for the story. Zero Squad is the god squad with all the Mortal Kombat guys that are basically gods.

pedrofaria339 - no... sorry.


	34. Dexter Spin Off Preview

**The General And the Saints of Samedi**

James Doakes liked to think of himself as a man with simple needs and dreams. He had moved on from his days of excitement back when he was running black ops with the Rangers, and now all he wanted was to catch the small time dumbasses that made the mistake of killing someone. He was a detective in Miami Metro Homicide, and he liked to think he had a talent of seeing people for what they really were and that it worked for him in his job.

Not so much in his personal life. He had few friends beyond his partner, even in the station he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular and he was mostly cool with that. Maybe a few more invitations to BBQs and the like would be nice, but in the end he was content. The only real hurt he was feeling these days was in his heart, it sounded like some rom-com bullshit but it was the truth. He had left his wife, and he did so for a good reason. Now he was just trying to move on with his life.

But today he felt off, like a ghost was breathing down his neck. He felt as if something was dogging him but he just couldn't for the life of him figure out what. Maybe it was the new forensic lab geek, Dexter Morgan, the man just gave James the creeps in a way he couldn't place. But Doakes still felt that wasn't all of it.

"Something on your mind?" Doakes turned to his partner, Maria LaGuerta, one of the few people that could get him to not think, just plain as that. Not think, because when Doakes thought about anything it wasn't pleasant. Maria was able to turn his mind off to the sickness that had stuck around him since his days in the Rangers.

"Yeah… just feeling like a storm's coming." Doakes said before taking a sip from his coffee, The two of them were currently leaning on their car outside a local café, He wasn't for fancy organic imported-from-wherever bullshit, but Maria had wanted to try this place out. Turns out they made a good cup of straight black, and that was what Doakes liked.

"A 'cancel a beach day' storm or 'board up your house' kind of storm?" Maria questioned, clearly concerned but without overtly showing it. She was good at that, conveying meaning and feelings without actually showing too much.

"Don't know… my gut is saying the latter but… I'm just not sure yet." Doakes said before taking another sip. As he did so, he noted that a group of gangbangers in purple were eyeing him. They were all around a purple van with stylized white decals on the side. "Hey Maria… know of any local gangs flagging purple?" Doakes asked as he was pretty sure that there weren't any in Miami… or at least any that had a beef with him at least.

"No… I don't think so… why?" Maria asked, a little confused to the question.

"Those brothers over there… they look like they know something we don't." Doakes said nodding discreetly over to the group of gangbangers.

"Think they might cause trouble?"

"Nah… not right now… but I think I might have been right on that storm." Doakes said as he watched one of them stare at him while pulling out a cell for a call.

* * *

Keambiroiro, AKA the General sat in his custom limo, freshly repainted the purple of the Saints and retooled with the best hardware that he could get his hands on. His newfound seemingly-endless wealth was truly a gift. He cut a sharp profile, that of tall man with an imposing air around him. A clean white suit with a purple waistcoat was his choice of attire, more formal than in his previous life as befitting his grander mission. His hand held a cigar that he would occasionally take a drag from.

"Abdalla, how is business today?" The General asked in his normal deep tone. It was the kind of voice that demanded its owner be heard and listened to. The man he was speaking to was Abdalla, his right hand man and trusted brother, though they were not related by blood but by other means.

"Very good General, we have begun the paperwork as well as the buying of property we need to begin your plans." Abdalla said respectfully. He was strong young man, sharp face only marred by a scar running from his lips to his ears, a gift from the General's former right-hand man. Long dreads hung from his head to the middle of his back. He wore a similar attire as his General, white suit pants with a white vest over his upper body and a purple undershirt. The only casual clothes were the fingerless gloves he wore.

"What of the acquiring of support for the Saints of Samedi?" The general said before taking a drag from his cigar. The Saints of Samedi, a insult to the former right hand man that had pushed so forcefully for the name of the General's previous gang. It also paid homage to the parent gang that he was now allied to.

"We have been able to turn the leadership of three local crews and have brokered peace between them. They have pledged support for us once we prove to the locals that you are worth their loyalty." Abdalla spat out that last part, as if it should be a given for them to loyally follow the great man before him, and that no proof of his strength was necessary.

"Patience Abdalla, we will command their allegiance soon enough. Once they start seeing my face, and start associating it with prosperity… then they will see." The General assured before looking towards the small TV in the limo. "Let us be done with our troubles and successes. Let us see what goes on in the world." The General said tuning in to the news.

"… will be passing the new budget this term or we'll be shutting down the government. Scary stuff huh Dave."

"Oh I have no worries here, no one's stupid enough to do that. But let's move on from politics to our next story out of California. It would seem that after the issues in Chicago, the Blume Corporation is trying once again with their CTOS program, this time in their own backyard. " The news crew continued but the two men in the limo stopped paying attention at the sound of Abdalla's phone ringing.

"This is Abdalla… yes… good… the money will be wired to your account shortly." Abdalla finished and hung up. "We have found the man you're looking for."

* * *

Dexter Morgan: supportive older brother, new guy at the Miami Metro Police department, secret Serial Killer. He was currently going through the equipment he would be able to work with here in the forensics department. It wasn't much, not for his work in blood spatter anyways. But he was told by several people that would be changing.

Dexter was more concerned about his cover, for this was a crucial time. It was here that he would be making his first impressions on the department. He needed to appear as normal as possible, so he had started with the most cliché cop stereotype in the book: doughnuts. Since his first day he had brought in doughnuts and it had worked. People began smiling every time they saw him, Pavlov's Dog in action. Soon they would pass by and think nothing more of him than than 'that guy in forensics that brings the sweets,' just as he planned.

"Hey Morgan!" There was only one person in the entire building that legitimately had Dexter on edge. One person that had seen through the façade even the tiniest bit.

"Yes detective… uh…" He made a show of squinting at the man's nametag. "Doakes?" Dexter pretended to be the jittery and forgetful new guy that still had to remember all the new names. Even though he had memorized everyone already. The detective just glared at Dexter with a look that he didn't like one bit, clearly saying _I'm not fooled_.

"Your sister works in Vice right, them and the gang units are tight, so see if she knows anything about a new crew flying purple as their colors, you understand all that or are you still too green?" Dexter just nodded and tried not to look too confused. "Good, get back… to… me… on that…" Dexter looked over to the elevator where someone was grabbing detective's Doakes' attention. "Motherfucker…" the detective swore as he stormed passed Dexter towards the tall black man in white and purple that had just entered the department. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cuff you **right here and now**!" Doakes boomed at the man who just smiled as if nothing was wrong. But something was very wrong, Dexter's unholy sixth sense was going crazy, that sense he got every time he saw someone like him.

"Captain Doakes… it is so nice to see you again. Even more so now that you can't kill me on sight." There was clear mocking in the man's deep voice but at the same time very little actual hostility. It was as if Doakes was so beneath him that he couldn't be bothered to be threatened.

"Well that can change fuckin' fast…" At this point every other cop in the bullpen had turned towards the commotion. "… you think you can just walk in here, a fucking war criminal…"

" _Reformed_ War Criminal." The man corrected. "I have turned over a new leaf so to say. I currently am setting up many charities and programs to help my fellow man. I have had enough war and death to last many lifetimes."

"Bullshit! I know what kind of man you are. You're fucking monster, and you come here saying you're some kind of Saint?!" Dexter noticed that at the word "Saint" the man's smirk grew even bigger. "What the fuck are you doing here anyways?"

"Well before you so rudely drudged up the past, I came to report a murder."

* * *

Abdalla cleaned off the blood that was sticking to his Bio-sword. Unlike the Bio-swords of the Hive of the Supreme Alpha Alex Mercer, the Bio-swords of the General's Hive weren't made up of the entire arm. But began at the forearm and carved up to look like it was still a blade being held in a hand, along with a smaller blade extending from the elbow.

"Disrespectful little shit… you dare say no to the General's offer. You weak mongrels should bow your heads to the ground and sing his praise." Abdalla mumbled to himself as he continued to wipe and flick the blood from his Bio-sword. He didn't want to consume such unworthy blood.

The dead man laying motionless on the concrete was Hector Alarcón, leader of the Fifth Street Ganado, a local small time gang that thought they didn't need to follow their neighbor's example. Normally the General would simply infect someone like Hector and the rest of his leadership, but at the moment the General needed corpses. Abdalla was all too happy to accommodate.

* * *

"So you're saying you found a dead body on your property?" Lieutenant Matthews asked neutrally. He was having a good easy day until the man sitting across from him in his office came by. Miami by all accounts was a tough place to be for a cop, you got drugs coming up from the cartels trying to circumvent Texas, you got smugglers trying to get people from Cuba to freedom here in America, and a hotbed of murders left and right.

"That is correct, I had just bought the property hoping to turn it into a homeless shelter…" There was an audible snort from the nearby detective Doakes. "… and I had come to inspect it. What do I find but the body of a dead man right in the middle of it." Keambiroiro said as he leaned back in his seat looking completely serene and in control.

"I see, well I thank you for bringing this here. I'll send over my men and we can hopefully get this straightened out. But I doubt this will be done that quickly as this is a murder, and your property will be a crime scene for some time until we find the person responsible."

"I thank you for being forward with me and I too hope that you can end this quickly. The sooner we get this horrible mess cleaned up the sooner I can begin helping people." Keambiroiro said as he stood up. "I wish you luck in your investigation." He said as he shook the Lieutenant's hand, he then nodded to Doakes with a smile and left the office.

"Detective Doakes, is there something you want to say?" Matthews said, a tiny bit irritated.

"We should be cuffing that bastard instead of going all 'please and thank you sir.' I hunted that prick for three years, his men killed two of my squad, and he personally killed dozens of people in Africa."

"Do you have any evidence to back this claim up?" Matthews sighed.

"You know any that could be used is locked up by the Feds." Doakes grumbled. "But I swear to God this murder will lead back to him. He's just fuckin' taunting us by reporting it."

"Then on that day we'll cuff him, but for right now keep your personal issues with him in check. As far as the law is concerned right now he is a law abiding citizen and _not_ a war criminal."

* * *

Tonight was the night… or to be accurate _a_ night. A single night in a long line of nights where Dexter embarked to do what he needed to do, where he let the Dark Passenger out to do its job. He had been tracking his prey for the last few weeks. It was going to be his first kill since joining Miami Metro. He was feeling a little bit cocky now due to that fact. He know had set himself up in a place where he might be able to provide a buffer should he trip up and something go wrong. But it wouldn't, he _would_ follow the Code of Harry and everything _would_ happen just as it had before.

His target was one Gabriel Burris: local handyman and widow of Mary Burris. Dexter had been tracking him for a while now as the death of his wife had been suspicious, but not enough to get the cops involved. She committed suicide by slashing her wrists, problem was that she had no history that would indicate that suicide was on her mind. Perfect life, perfect husband… or so she thought. In the last few weeks following his wife's death Gabriel had put on a brave face, or so many believed. In the following weeks, several more women were found in the same state, suicide with slashed wrists and shocked friends and families. The first three had been women Gabriel had access to easily, his wife, his neighbor's maid, and client's wife.

Dexter had expected Gabriel to continue but he had become rather silent in the last few weeks. Dexter had been able to time it to one kill per month and he had hoped to pounce on his prey while he was planning his next target. He had a small curiosity as to how old Gabe was doing the deed.

But things started to change, as a rule for most killers Dexter had found is that many of them preferred a routine to their lives. He could attest to that. Gabriel was no exception to that rule. But in the last few weeks Gabriel had begun moving outside his comfort zone and started interacting with people he had never before met or associated with before. Dexter had begun to fear that Gabriel might be somehow moving past the day to day that Dexter knew and thus putting his plans in jeopardy.

So he moved up his plans and now had Gabriel right where he wanted him. It was touch and go for a time but it worked out in the end. Met with Gabe at his office and chatted a bit on Dexter's not-really-broken sink, and how his not-real wife was nagging him to fix it, tried to do it himself but no such luck. From there, it was all a matter of time before Dexter had him laying back on a table wrapped up in plastic, the lights turned down and pictures of his victims covering the walls. Everything was going just as he thought it would… until Gabriel woke up.

"They're coming… I know it… they'll come for me…" Dexter watched in slight confusion as the man continued to mumble this to himself, completely unaware of Dexter even in the room that spelled his death. By now this would normally be nothing but a drop of blood on a slide, but that currently was not the case as Dexter's confusion was staying his usual ritual.

"I have to ask… just who do you think is coming for you?" Dexter said, his normal monotone slightly hitched by small waves of interest and uncertainty. "No one knows where you are, no one can possible know what has happened. You are mine." Gabriel's eyes snapped to Dexter, blind rage in them.

"They know… they are coming. They take care of me and I listen… that's just how things are now. I listened to them and they made things better…" There were tears of joy in his eyes, but Dexter could still see the rage at the comments that he had made. "… I felt free… like there were people like me who understood and cared. You… all of you have no idea what it's like to be part of something like this." Dexter was even more confused, so many things ran through his head. Parts of Gabriel's speech sounded like he had found religion or something. Very born-again-like.

"You say people are coming for you… and yet… nothing. And we have wasted enough time anyways." Dexter said as he grabbed a nearby saw. "I suppose one might expect me to say something like _It's time to avenge those you have killed_ , and I have said this before but I found there really isn't any real truth behind that. I do what I do for me and me alone. I don't really believe in an afterlife but if the souls of those you killed are put to peace, I guess I would want that for myself if someone killed me." Dexter intoned as he took his first slice to the chest… but to his surprise there was a lot more push back than normal. Even more strange, Gabriel was utterly silent, no screaming… just a glazed look in his eyes. Dexter stopped his cutting and snapped his fingers over the pale face of his victim. Gabriel continued to be unresponsive. "Okay… I am officially freaked out by this one…"

"That is good…" Dexter turned around to the deep voice that had answered him. "… you should be fearful." He was too shocked by the fact someone actually came that he wasn't able to immediately recognize the man standing in the nearby doorway. "Now, before I rip you limb from limb for harming one of my own, do tell me why you have done this…" the man motioned to the plastic wrap wonderland that Dexter had made of Gabriel's dining room. Dexter didn't answer with words but instead he quickly reacted in the form of taking the saw in his hands and trying to swiftly take care of the stranger that had shown up. To Dexter's continue shock… he just let it happen. He didn't even move out of the way, just stood there as the saw buried itself in his head. "Are you finished?" Dexter's mind was unable to grasp the fact a man with a saw in his head just spoke as if nothing was wrong.

"What… wha…" Dexter knew he was a monster, he knew he was just as much as a monster as the ones he had seen on TV, the ones that destroyed New York. He had known while watching the reports he had so much more in common with them then even his own sister. But what he was seeing now made the monster within him terrified.

"Mr. Burris, are you alright?" The man said as he pushed the saw out of his head.

"Yes Alpha, I am now. Thank you for saving me. Thank you thank you thank you!" Gabriel proclaimed as if he was being saved by an angel.

"That is good, now… you… you have yet to answer my question. Why did you do this, Mr. Burris does not know you so this can not be a personal vendetta. Going on from what you had said before, it would seem as if I have stumbled upon a serial killer in the middle of his ritual of blood. Even more interesting, a serial killer that targets others of his kind. Interesting indeed." The man said as he stepped forward causing Dexter to stumble back onto the ground. The man deftly caught the saw that had fallen out of Dexter's hand before it could have the potential of hurting anyone. "I cannot fault you so easily for your actions against my Infected. He is after all your prey of choice and your words rang true with regard to what had done in the past. That being said… you did attack him… you did hurt him… something that I can't forgive…" Dexter looked up in horror as the man's body shifted around until it was no longer human. His form had changed utterly, hunched over slightly with long fungal stalks protruding from his back, other mossy and mushroom-like growths covering his upper body, his head completely shrouded in decaying looking vines from which only a single large eye was visible. Dexter watched as the air around the monster tinted green, and he quickly found himself feeling strange. He felt like he was on some drug he could never hope to pin down. The world around him turned blurry and reality soon began to make no sense, Dexter now understood what Alice felt like as she tumbled down the rabbit hole.

* * *

"Why General? Why not kill this fool and be done with the matter? Abdalla asked as he circled Dexter who was tied up in a chair, a lamp shining in his face and still knocked out from the hallucinogenic spores the General's viral armor produced.

"We are not leaving him without punishment. By the time he leaves this place, he will have seen the true nature of the world, what real monsters lurk in the dark, and he will never rest easily for as long as he draws breath. In this way we take from him his sense of freedom, we are killing the man he once was."

"I extend to him this mercy because his reasons for targeting our Infected absolve him of the crime, mostly. He was seeking out a killer, as a killer, to sate his need for blood. I see no issue letting his body live. But I do remember him from when I stopped by the police when we made our first move."

"Ah yes, that string of killings I did to smear the local police, to incite the people into questioning their competence. It was a good plan that worked just as you predicted General. Good memories." Abdalla said fondly remembering the sputtering fools on TV trying to explain away the murders, and they would continue doing so since he hadn't left behind a shred of physical evidence. The news coverage had the dual effect of putting the General in the spotlight as the wounded party that the investigation continued to prevent from opening his homeless shelter.

"Yes, he could be quite useful as a mole on the inside, but I am more interested in his work as a killer. If he continues his work, it betters Miami."

"That is why we should kill him, a sick Miami is a willing Miami General, it would be wi- **URK**!" Abdalla stopped the moment the General smacked him to the floor.

"Do not test me Abdalla, I know what I am doing. It is true that a city wrapped in fear of killers is a weakened target, but we want Miami strong, it is a tourist spot after all. If the people stop coming because they feel it is no longer safe, then we would lose many clients as well as suffer when the locals suffer."

"Of course General… my apologies for not seeing your brilliance." Abdalla said in full honesty.

"This man's work can only benefit us. Either he cleans the streets of killers that might pose a danger to our Hive, for not all of them can be so polite as to wait for us to save our Infected as he was, or he has an effect on the local population. His position in the local law enforcement will help with both."

"Shall I return him to a place where he might be found and returned home?"

"No… I wish to speak with him."

"But… of course General." Abdalla said with the tiniest bit of jealousy. He quickly left and returned with a cattle prod they used to shock people back awake after they had been exposed to the General's Viral form. "Wakey-wakey…" Abdalla joked as he jammed the prod in Dexter's shoulder.

"Ah! What? What…" Dexter yelled as he sobered up.

"Hello, Mr. Serial Killer." The General said as he sat down in the chair across from Dexter, his face cloaked in shadow. "I am the General, but you might know me better as Keambiroiro. I am the man who is becoming so loved in this city for his work with the impoverished. But I also am far more than that. I am the Alpha of a Hive Mind of Blacklight beings. I'm sure you've heard of Blacklight before, my kind brought such grand destruction to the capital of the Empire state." Dexter nodded, he sure had. Everyone on Earth had heard and seen the monsters of New York. "But I am also far more than what you might have seen of those twisted beasts. I am a Evolved, as is my friend Abdalla here." The General nodded to the man standing next to Dexter. "As Evolved we hold certain powers and responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is the safe keeping and well being of Infected. Like Gabriel Burris. He is part of my Hive. You trying to kill him is something I can not allow." The General said with a tone that put the fear of god in any lesser man. But to Dexter it wasn't nearly as terrifying as what he had seen previously.

"You are lucky in that the General has found use for you, otherwise you would likely be strung up by your guts right now." Abdalla growled, showing that he would very much like to do so anyways. But he wouldn't as he would only do so if the General allowed it.

"You see, I approve of what you do, and I want you to keep doing it." The General smiled at the look of shock on Dexter's face. "Just know that we are out there, watching… waiting, and should we have need of you, I expect you to be more than willing to help us in our needs."

* * *

Reviews

Xalimech - Thank you and here's the General

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Notsae - The reality tumors are currently asleep until the god of sex drugs and rock and roll comes around and puts them into over drive. that's what it says in the fluff


	35. Life is Amusing

Music that makes things awesome

Ragyo's theme  /FRivqBxbHRs?t=72

Alex's Theme  /-pJCSfJL5FI?t=39

* * *

"Holy fucking shit. That…. is the cutest thing I've ever seen!" The leader of the 3rd Street Saints joyfully yelled as he saw the Johnny Gat plushy. Alex quickly ran over to the small toy and held it up.

"I'll murderize you all!" The small plushy said in a high-pitched voice once Alex squished it.

" D-a-a-ane! This is the greatest thing ever! " Alex called back to the waiting soon-to-be-CEO of Ultor. It had been a few months since the Boss had told him he wanted to start a Saints Brand, but he had never got around to telling him any real details of what _kind_ of brand he wanted. So Dane made everything, from a clothing line, to silly merch, to the line of Saints plushy dolls that was more of a joke than an actual idea to sell.

"Mercer… this is rather embarrassing for the Supreme Alpha, don't you think?"

"Ah, fuck off, like I give a shit of how I look to you or anyone when I know I can beat the snot out of them." Alex said as he continued to hug the small plushy of his best friend. " _Please_ tell me you have one of everyone."

"We made one for you, Gat, Julius, Shaundi, Carlos, Peirce, Lin, Victor, and Luz as well as a variety of generic "homie" Saints. The generic ones we'll sell in stores along with the Pierce, Victor and Luz ones. The others will be special order collector items, and the Julius one will be the rarest." Dane explained.

"Just like the man himself. Did Ultor's contacts ever find a trace of where he might be by the way? Because Dana can't track him down anywhere on the web." Alex said, putting the plushy down as he turned a tad more serious.

"Nope, whatever happened to Julius is mystery. If he had died, a body would have been found by now. I personally am putting my bets on him leaving the country, why I haven't a clue but that's what I got."

"I just… I don't understand why he left in the first place. I knew he was going to leave the Saints but Stilwater… was not seeing that coming." Alex sighed before deciding to move on to the next topic of discussion. In the last few months, Dane had become a logistical second-in-command to the Supreme Alpha. He was in charge of a large part of the Hives and Saints, not to mention the newest third of Alex's empire in the form of Ultor, and since Alex's decision to become famous the two of them had been meeting and coordinating more frequently. "How are Maero and the General doing in their positions?"

Dane turned off to the side."Jamie?" His Gamma handed him two files and a clipboard. "Maer,o as of last month, established three small Chapters of the Saints, one based out of Columbus Ohio and another in Dayton Ohio. Then, one based in Fort Wayne Indiana. All are led by a Gamma and two Nobles."

"He's just shotgunning the north west isn't he." Alex sighed. "Are they at least paying their tithes to the main branch of the Saints?"

"Only the Dayton chapter has the revenue to start paying back to you and the Stilwater Saints. The other two are currently still in the process of setting themselves up and beating back other criminal enterprises. The shipments of Loa Dust, now called Unholy Light, have been sent out and they have been getting more popular than the normal cannabis, coke, and meth, though heroin is still currently the most popular."

"The country's locked in an opioid epidemic, or course heroin is the most popular. Fucking pharma companies push doctors to prescribe painkillers and people turn to the closest thing when those run out. We need to fix this; our stuff is way more profitable and less likely to kill our consumers. How's the General down in Miami?"

"From what he's sent back as well as my own investigation into the city, pretty well." Dane said switching out files. "He's currently polling at a very favorable 71 approval rating and he's not even running for office. People simply think he should with all the good they think he's doing."

"They're not wrong, he _is_ doing good work. It's not just a front, he's actually running those charities. Does he have any enemies that we should be concerned about?"

"He has three… if they could be called that. There's the detective he has a history with, but from what he's said about the matter the General is playing this James Doakes like a fiddle. Then we have Carlos Guerrero, a local drug lord that seems to have taken offence to the General encroaching on his territory, but we know how this will eventually play out. Politically speaking his only real critic is one Miguel Prado, an up and coming Assistant District Attorney. He has the full support of the Cuban community, so he's been able to make an enemy out of the General with minimal public backlash." Dane said before closing the file. "The Saints of Samedi are already sending back funds, and their legitimate businesses have been working out splendidly."

"Good, sounds like everything is working out on those fronts. That just leaves you and Shogo." Alex said with clear interest.

"Yes, Ultor has begun moving toward trying to take back some of the market in Europe with limited success. Asia, not even an inch. Africa, we've lost five more percent of the market. Revocs is pushing their ground and holding their own. We've tried all sorts of marketing tactics from smears and digging up dirt on the Kiryuin Conglomerate to propping up our charitable works. Nothing seems to change people's minds. They're just about as loyal to Revocs as the Infected are loyal to their Hives."

"Hmm. Is there any explanation for this loyalty, it's not like they have a viral control on them… they don't, right?" Alex asked as he saw Dane face shift slightly.

"Well… there are rumors… corporate gossip that Revocs might have an ace in the hole. But so far we haven't been able to prove anything. Their production factories are locked up tight as military bases."

"But _you_ have some ideas." Alex said as he stepped toward Dane in a show of intimidation. Alex watched as Dane weighed his options at the moment before finally sighing and nodding to his Gamma. She handed his a white folder with a red strip running down the side.

"This is everything Ultor has on the subject, every bit of espionage and hearsay we've gathered on the mysterious reason behind Revocs' success, no matter how ambiguous." Dane said as he handed it over to Alex. "Before you read what's in here…" Dane said not letting go as Alex grabbed the folder. "… know that I didn't put it together and this is not a joke… apparently."

"Doesn't sound like you have much confidence in this info." Alex said as he took the folder. And opened it up.

"It's not that… just… it's so ridiculous that I have reservations on it being credible."

" 'Life Fibers'… interesting…" Alex mumbled as he read over the limited information Ultor had been able to gather on the subject starting with snippets of intercepted Revocs communications. Alex combined it with what he knew, the memories of biologists, his own expertise in genetics, as well as all he had been able to gather form Mileena and the other Illuminati agents on the subject of psychics. From what he could tell, Blacklight wasn't the only thing in this world that turned the ordinary into fantasy. It just happened to be the most public in the last few years.

These "Life Fibers" seemed to be a species of psychically attuned parasites. They somehow fed off the nervous system of any living creature, exhibiting semi-sentience in larger quantities. In many ways it was like Blacklight, but in many other ways the two couldn't be compared. They took the form of threads and could apparently be incorporated into…. clothes? Not a bad camouflage option for this type of creature. From what Alex could piece together, he was able to confirm that they did indeed have limited mind control capabilities, seeing as they fed off the nervous system that wasn't a hard idea to grasp.

But he felt like there was a lot missing from the information he had available, so much of the Ultor data felt incredibly pieced together from a multitude of vague sources, and that put all his current assumptions at risk. He either needed a pure sample or direct contact for a limited amount of time.

"So… pretty strange, right?" Dane said half hoping Alex could confirm that it was indeed as ridiculous as he hoped to believe.

"Yeah, strange, but it explains a lot. We need more information. Set up a meeting with the Revocs CEO. If she really is as obsessed with clothing as you say, and _if_ these Life Fibers really are Revocs' ace in the hole, then I have no doubts she's either a puppet or the creator of these things." Alex said as he handed the file back to Dane's Gamma, ignoring Dane's look of disappointment and irritation. "I highly doubt that these Life Fibers are a natural product of Earth's biosphere, they are far too… specific for humans in general and if they were then that would suggest that they symbiotically evolved alongside, precisely following the increased neural development of the great apes wherever it happened. But no such relationship has existed in history. Not only that, but they seem to have no variation, unlike in any ecosystem. Every living creature in this world has some kind of cousin or off shoot species, but these Life Fibers are singular, so either they were made in a lab… or something else is going on, and that _something_ _else_ is a playmate I don't want to deal with right now." Alex said though, Dane was feeling like he was missing a few pieces of information from what his boss was talking about.

"Uh… sure, I can think I can set up a meeting. It's not like I don't have a reason for one. Revocs constantly tries to take over Ultor through various means, I can use that as a pretense."

"Good, I want to be there, but make sure no one knows I'm coming."

"Why, not like anyone would see Avarice Mercy as a threat like they would for Alex Mercer. Let's make sure we change that when Avarice makes his debut."

* * *

Shogo was currently walking through the streets of Stilwater. He was frustrated at his lack of progress among the Alphas. He had yet to find anyone that he thought would be a good Beta or even a Gamma. All of the Ronin were dead and it wasn't like any of them had been that worthy for Evolution anyways. Infection yes, but not anything above that. He was not going to San Francisco empty-handed and alone. While the General and Maero still had a lot of their boys to back them up and capable Betas and Gammas, Shogo had nothing.

He needed to do this, it was his chance to prove to himself and everyone that he wasn't just some spoiled brat. He _needed_ to be worthy of the gift and, more importantly, the chance Alex had given him. He had an opportunity to build something greater than his father ever dreamed of, assuming that cold bastard could even dream.

"Hey Shogo!" Shogo looked over to a nearby park where to his surprise he saw Dana Mercer laying back on a bench. "Yeah, I know, you're surprised. Just come over here." She called, waving him over. He was a bit confused as to why she wanted anything to do with him, but he tried to stay professional. He had never met her in person but knew her face from the Hive Mind as someone important to the Supreme Alpha.

"What is it, I'm busy planning out…"

"You've been stuck as to what to do about your assignment to San Fran… lucky for you I'm heading out that way. I have a few friends that are in need of my help." Dana said briskly, never looking up from her tablet. "I might be willing to introduce you to them to you if you promise that listen to everything I say." She said smiling at Shogo's look of disgust at that deal. It was a knee-jerk reaction for an Alpha to hate any idea of surrendering control to another.

"Pray tell, why would I need your help?"

"Because without me and Dedsec you have nothing." Dana said now looking up to Shogo.

"I know that name, isn't that that hacker group?"

"While Alex had been playing with gangbangers, I wasn't kicking back sipping tea by the poolside. Since coming to Stilwater and getting fully set up, I've been hard at work on the 'net. I came across other people moving in the same circles, we founded the 'Council of Daves', and Dedsec was formed." Dana briefly looked up from her tablet and gestured between the two of them.

"Shogo Akuji, DaveM88, DaveM88, Shogo Akuji. The name of the group wasn't my idea. I suggested Net Saints but everyone wanted something edgy. Oh well, anyways… the SF branch of Dedsec is in need of help. From the sound of it, our corporate overlords are making noise there. They are unveiling the newest attempt at the CToS system after the disaster that was Chicago."

"So what you're saying is that so long as I listen to you, then I get possible Hive members, and the start of a Saints hacker chapter in San Francisco."

"No… more like you listen, help me and my friends, and I'll let you hang out with us and _maybe_ point out some people that would be good for Hive."

"Deal."

* * *

Atshushi finished his daily prayers to the mighty coffee making Blacklight Construct. It was a pure marvel of his work. Every day he would feed it coffee beans, and it would produce the greatest brew he had ever tasted in his life. It was better than what any chain or local shop could have made, and it was certainly better than the weapons-grade swill that Blackwatch had forced on him.

"Ahhh, _arigato_ Omar, once again you have blessed the world with a great drink that I happily enjoy." Atshushi had named the little creature after the man who supposedly first invented coffee. "Now… let's see how the rest of the lab is doing." Atshushi hummed as he passed through the various halls, the lab had begun getting a bit more lively as of the last few weeks. Alex had been getting more active in the cataloging of the various strains they were producing, and they had even begun speaking of finding some more people to work on Blacklight.

The idea of making Atshushi a new Alpha commanding his lab's creations as his Hive had come up. In response, Atshushi said that if he could he _would_ join the Hives in a heartbeat, not only to understand the Hive Mind in greater depth but for many other reasons as well. Despite this, he had to refuse as he was still technically under orders of the Director of the Illuminati. Until his true employers said so, he couldn't join the Hives. Alex understood and accepted this reason. This made the discussion about adding more to the lab staff a moot point for the moment.

The real reason why the Lab had grown a bit more lively was because the Constructs were becoming so much more developed. The Imps were collecting biomass from the streets of Stilwater and bringing back many recyclables, including enough rare metals that they were starting to make a tiny profit on the operation. The Legionaries were still working out their own issues on combat, Atshushi was on his way to check on them at the moment.

The terror and assassin unit that they had named the Blacklight Horror had been refitted without the Limelight strain and now showed up in the Hive Mind as it should. The newer ones now could be stopped by a Evolved, but they still acted in the same manner as the original. Since it would attack anything unless an Evolved was directly keeping it under control, it was treated as a weapon and all instances were kept in secure sleeping pods.

The Blacklight flora had been improved upon vastly by the addition of two systems of biomass storage. Atshushi had devolved a plant-based Construct that would root itself among the flora and draw liquid biomass into itself. Whatever it gathered would be stored in hard-shelled pods the size of watermelons, and once the pods were full they would drop to the ground so a new pod could begin growing. Atshushi knew that while he had figured out a means to keep the Blacklight ecosystem from expanding out of control, he still needed a means for the excess to be automatically transported. For the moment, all that was need was to replenish the biomass in the Legionary birthing pool and the vats Atshushi kept around for his experiments to test what a new strain might do. So he made the Furies, not the most accurate of labels but he needed a name for a flying organism and he wanted to adhere to the Greek or Roman theme.

The Furies were about the size of a person's head and were fairly beetle-like. A hard carapace covered the top with four membranous insectoid wings kept it above ground. Six legs dangled below its body, each ending in a pair of pincers that were designed to hold a Biomass pod. Its mouth was right in the middle of its body, and would bite off the top of each pod and pour the contents into where it was directed to do so. It would, when needed, replenish itself with its organic cargo, but by Atshushi's count each Fury only did so every fourteenth pod so it was not an urgent thing to change. They would navigate by landmark memory like many insects, but they were highly dependent on an outside individual to work them. Atshushi found that they were very stuck to patterns, and would not deviate from an established route. Once a Fury had their assigned pod tree, it would continually come back to that tree and would do so as long as the route to and from where it was assigned to take the pods wasn't changed. It was a system that would only work in areas where change in environment was unlikely, but it worked like clockwork so long as it did. Atshushi was happy to have created something so efficient. He had done so much with Blacklight, it was amazing.

"Oh Alex… didn't expect you to come in today." Atshushi said as he approached the Supreme Alpha, who stood flanked by two of his Praetorian Guard.

"Me and Dane are heading off to Japan soon, thought I might stop by and ask someone who grew up there if there was anything you may want me to know." Alex said but he never left his view of the Legionaries, the older squads of which were in the process of training some of the newer ones. He was now able to see how the Legionaries showed age. The younger the Legionary, the less defined the bone armor they had. The older squads all had rough but well maintained plates of bone armor, and the armor itself looked to be slightly more grown out than those that had been recently been pulled out of the birthing pool. Alex wondered if that might at some point it might be necessary for them to file down their armor lest it restrict their movement.

"Where are you going, I'm from Osaka and I still have family back there."

"We are headed there to speak with the CEO of Revocs, Ragyo Kiryuin. I think they're…" Alex stopped talking when he noticed Atshushi shaking with fear. "Uh… something I should know?"

"Forgive my forwardness, but you need to be careful Alex when dealing with the Kiryuins. They are the unofficial rulers of half of Japan, and the other half is owned by the Takarada family. The two have been pushing at each other hard lately. The Kiryuins have Revocs and other business ventures while the Takarada owns a shipbuilding empire as well as most of Osaka itself."

"So I might have an ally against Revocs. Interesting."

"The Takarada _are_ also major players in the Yakuza." Alex grunted in disappointment at his options getting shot down. "Considering the deal you made with the Triad and you stealing Stilwater out from under them, I'm not sure if they would be very receptive to the Saints."

"Fuck… oh well it was worth a try…" Alex said returning to watching the Legionaries.

"Still, pretty cool aren't they, I have to say it is interesting watching a society and culture grow before your very eyes, one that you made and put on the path they are now no less. I can honestly say I'm proud of them in ways I never thought possible."

"Yeah… in a way, they're your kids." Alex said this but there was no joke to it, just a clear observation. Atshushi looked u for a moment and thought about what the Supreme Alpha said.

"I guess you're right, in a certain way. But they are as much your legacy as they are mine, they are based off Blacklight and all Blacklight derives from you."

"No…" Alex said flatly. "No… these and all the other Constructs are yours." Atshushi looked back at Alex, there was something to the way he spoke, though the scientist doubted he had realized it. It almost sounded jealous. "Well, if you don't have any more words of warning, I should be off. We should be back in about a week depending on what happens. At the latest, a month." Alex said waving off Atshushi leaving him with the Praetorian Guard as Alex was going without them. He would be in too public a venue to have living video game characters walking around.

"Creator, is something the matter?" One of the Praetorian Guards solemnly asked as Atshushi watched the door close.

"Your Alpha is missing something." Atshushi said as the thought was finishing in his own head.

"What? What is it, we shall retrieve it at once and return it to him." The Praetorian Guard said not understanding what Atshushi was really saying.

"No, Your Alpha is not missing something physical. There's something he's missing out of life. So many people he has met have hurt him and left him damaged. He tried to ignore it but that made him bitter and hateful, then he realized this when he faced down death for the first time but came to the wrong answer as to how to fix to emptiness in him. He now tries to fill it with pleasurable sensations, but the people around him are finding true happiness and that is forcing him to see what is wrong with his life."

"Creator, what is it we can do to help the Supreme Alpha with this emptiness you speak of?"

"You can't, it's something that is beyond your limited understanding. As intelligent as you all seem to be, you are but weapons of war and guardians of the Hives. You weren't made to understand emotions like the ones your Alpha is dealing with. Nor should you, because you can help him by keeping everyone in his Hive safe as you were meant to. Do that. The safety of the Hive is something that the Supreme Alpha always worries about." Atshushi said before leaving the Pretorian Guard. They watched as their creator passed through the doors and then turned to each other.

"Is that it, is doing our duty really all we can do?"

"You heard what Creator Atshushi said, so long as we continue our duty, the Alpha won't have to concern himself with worrisome thoughts. If he is free of those thoughts, he will be able to fix this detestable emptiness that plagues him."

"But from what Creator Atshushi said, it sounds like the Alpha does not know he is plagued by this emptiness."

"Then… should we tell him?"

"The Creator said this was none of our duty and thus we should leave it alone."

"Yes but… it is the Alpha, it is our duty to protect and serve him. Does that also include helping him when he himself does not know he needs it?"

"I also say that this matter is not for us, all this talk… it hurts to think about. Let us find some hatchling to teach the meaning of respect of the Praetorian Guard and be done with this."

* * *

 **Japan, one week later.**

Ragyo Kiryuin was sitting in her office, a rare occasion for her to actually use it these days. Much of her affairs were handled by Revocs, it was quite able to run itself at this point. Instances where it needed her personal hand in anything was becoming rarer and rarer, but that did not mean it didn't happen. Today, for instance, she would be meeting one Dane Vogel, Chairman of Ultor and from she had heard the next CEO once the current one stepped down. He had contacted Revocs to speak about their latest attempts at a takeover of Ultor.

It mattered not if Mr. Vogel had come to speak amicably on the topic. Once the meeting was finished, one way or another, Ragyo will have made the first true step in destroying or taking Ultor for herself. Then, once that happened, her plans for the world would accelerate quite rapidly. The American company had long been a thorn in her side, but at the same time it presented an opportunity to conquer the rest of the world's apparel markets in one fell swoop. It would seem now was the time for that to happen.

Her end game was inevitable, Revocs would control every apparel industry in the world, and then all those pigs in human clothing would be garbed in fabric infused with Life Fibers. She would then begin her plan to take full control of the world with the COVERS. It was only a matter of time.

 **(Great place to cue the Ragyo music)**

"Lady Ragyo, the _men_ from Ultor have arrived." Ragyo's personal assistant Rei Hoomaru said, this was not expected. Ragyo had thought it to be just Vogel making the journey, but it mattered not if some other pig tagged along. The doors to her office opened and two men began walking in, to Ragyo's slight irritation they seemed unfazed by the dramatic lighting her Life Fiber-infused body radiated. She did so enjoy it when fools such as them were surprised and awed by her magnificence.

On the right was Dane Vogel, the portrait of corporate leadership that she had seen many times on TV and in magazines: a handsome man with blond hair and million-dollar smile, tall with a fit build, and wearing what Ragyo had to admit was a fine suit. She would likely keep that line once she acquired Ultor.

But, next to Dane was a man that Ragyo had never seen before. The way he walked… it unnerved her, and it exuded the total confidence of an apex predator. His face was sharp with piercing purple-tinted eyes, an unusual trait. His hair was partially slicked back and was dark as night. The only thing that marred his rather handsome features was a scar running across his right eye down to his chin, though it looked to have faded a bit. He was slightly shorter than Dane and thinner too but by no means weak or sickly looking. He was also wearing a suit, but instead of the gray and orange that Dane had, it was black with a hint of violet stitching and had a royal purple shirt underneath. It was clean and sharp, but what offended Ragyo on a deep personal level was that this man had the audacity to wear jeans with it.

"Ragyo Kiryuin, it has taken far too long for us to meet." Dane said with a bright smile as they approached her desk, her eyes never leaving the unnerving man. "May I introduce Ultor's newest investment, Mr. Avarice Mercy." Dane said nodding to the man next to him. "Avarice here is part Ultor's up and coming brand, the Saints. They're a street gang that conquered their city to turn it into a model of society, and now they've have agreed to license their likeness to us."

"How interesting, but do tell me why you have brought him here to a meeting between **executives**." _Not thugs,_ she mentally added, though her tone and emphasis communicated what had gone unsaid.

"I'm here because Dane has heard some pretty nasty rumors to what happens to people that don't see eye to eye with you. Plus, the Saints now own a forty-eight percent stake in Ultor, so… little bit of reason for the leader of said gang to be here." The man smirked as he sat down with Dane. Ragyo was becoming more and more irritated by this pig in human clothing by the second.

"But you do have a point, we are not here to discuss my associate, we are here to discuss Revocs' latest attempt at taking over Ultor." Dane said sitting back in the provided chair, his face clearly not amused at the subject.

"I take it you have come to warn me to cease my attempts at doing just that. My poor man, you are mistaken if you think you can bring some hooligan to bully me into submission." Ragyo was in control, she always was in these and all other situations. The fact that this new man unnerved her mattered not.

"Me, a hooligan? I feel so minimized..." Avarice chuckled darkly at Ragyo's comment. but she ignored him. "... and coming from some trashy goose lady that got facefucked by a bunch of M&Ms…" There was a deadly silence that followed that remark. Dane sighed, knowing full well what was coming, and tried to distance himself from the impending bloodbath. Meanwhile Ragyo had had enough, this disgusting pig had just crossed a line he should never dared to even see let alone cross.

"You… you… **FILTHY PIG! You dare to insult me?!** " Ragyo raged as she stood up. Both of the men's eyes widened at the sight of her pulling a massive razor-sharp sewing needle out of her torso. In the blink of an eye, Ragyo's Life Fiber sword severed Avarice's head from his neck in one slash. "So much better, now Dane… time for you to be punished for bringing in such an uncouth beast into my building." She sneered at the Ultor Chairman. To her internal shock he didn't look the slightest bit perturbed by what just happened.

"Gosh, it sure didn't take that long for us to get to this point." Dane sighed and then turned to Avarice. "All right, enough dramatic pause." Ragyo's fury had reached the boiling point, and she was about to scream at the silly man when, in the corner of her eye, she saw something she thought impossible. The unnerving man's head was _regrowing_ , the skull building back on itself, then being wrapped around by the red of the face's undertissue, and then growing a cover of skin from the neck.

 **(Alex Theme starts here)**

"Ah… not expecting yourself to be the only special one?" Avarice said as the skin was still climbing over his lower face. "I have to say that I wasn't expecting Life Fibers being able to form a weapon like that. Still, now we know the rumors are true." Avarice said as he cracked his neck back into place.

"Just what in the hell are you?" Ragyo demanded coldly.

"I am Evolution itself, I am biological perfection." Avarice boasted as he leaned back again in his chair. "But unlike you I won't show my hand with any information you might use against me."

"Feculent swine, you dare think yourself above the glory that is Life Fibers?!"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do, because from what I've seen they are stagnant, devoid of progress and vitality. That little example was just the start, and I have been killed in more ways than I can count, so if that was the extent of your power then I have no true worry." At that Ragyo smirked, they had continued to underestimate her. Something she hated but could still use to her advantage.

"Not at all, ruffian, if I can't kill you… then with a little Mind Stitching I can turn you into _my_ puppet!" At that Avarice could see a red thread shooting through the air, quickly penetrating his skull. He kept his face of indifference as her Life Fiber began wrapping around his brain. Just as Ragyo smiled and felt her influence extending over the body of this pig… the thread of influence snapped. She felt her fingers wrap around what should have been a human mind, only to rebound off a mental shell protecting the thoughts of this… thing. She quickly retracted her Life Fiber, but she could feel that part of it had been caught by something. "Damn you, beast." She snarled.

"It seems I've gotten what I… needed… oh fuck…" Ragyo watched as Avarice leaned over and began violently vomiting blood over the side of his chair. Ragyo was even more surprised by the feeling of something entering the air, like something of a plague or virus.

"Hoomaru, please protect yourself from the beast's pestilence." Ragyo quickly warned her assistant, the Life Fibers in Hoomaru's clothing quickly extended and closed off any access from air born virus.

"Fuck, that shit… is nasty… as fucking garbage." Avarice heaved as he tried to gain a bit of control. "How the fuck can you stand having that shit in your body?"

"It would seem that whatever you are, you are susceptible to Life Fibers after all."

Avarice stood up, regaining his bearings as he pointed directly at her. "Don't… get cocky bitch. I only reacted like that because I consumed that shit. So long as I don't do that, no upchucking for me. But it seems I can't consume you and learn all I need. So that leaves _you_ either submitting to _me_ or _me_ killing you."

"I will **never** submit to a beast like you." Ragyo growled.

"Good… because this could be fun." Avarice said as menacing barbed black armor unfolded from his body, covering him in seconds. Ragyo had to admit that this beast was getting more and more irritatingly intriguing by the second.

* * *

Reviews

death44 - thank you

helkil - maybe... maybe... we shall see...

Xalimech - thank you, and Dexter will be a part of the hive and so will others but you might have to wait for some time until I put out the spin off.

Rmarcano321 - PM, that is s true and I never even thought of it that way. happy accident

IAmPedobear - thank you.

LORD DESTRYUK - That little ball of Redlight nastiness will be showing up in SR3.


	36. Not Fun

"This... has _not_ been fun…" Alex grumbled as he leaned against a pillar of rubble. For the last four hours, he and Ragyo had been fighting to the death. Both had received wounds that should have killed lesser men and women, but to the two super beings it was nothing. Alex had quickly learned in the fight that this was a battle of attrition, something of which he was normally the victor, but Ragyo's means of healing placed this style of conflict in her favor.

Where Alex and other Viral Beings healed by using their collected Biomass to fuel and boost the healing process, Ragyo's Life Fiber-enhanced body simply _stitched_ the damage back together. He would dismember her, and she would just reattach the lost limb as if it was nothing. He then moved on to blunt force through his Hammer Fists and Muscle Mass. But that turned out to be a bad idea, it had cost him far more Biomass than he ever gained in damage to Ragyo. The second he changed his style of combat she went on the offensive, and since she was continuing with her bladed weapons, she was able to inflict mass amounts of damage to his body without threat of parry or an effective block. The only means of fighting that he had a advantage in was range, his bio-gun had far more of it than those irritating threads of sharpened Life Fibers that she had. But his Whip Fist was out due to this range issue, it didn't have the length for him to stay out of her own range combat.

"Now my dear Avarice-kun, you're not trying to hide now are you?" Alex quickly spun and blocked the incoming strike. Ragyo's face had returned to a mocking smile the second she found herself the party with the upper hand. Likely she found it funny that Alex was so irritated to find not so easy prey in the Revocs CEO. "I have to say you were right, I haven't had this much fun in ages." She mocked as she pressed her blade against Alex's Bio-sword.

"Fucking cunt, I'm going to gut you and hang your insides over those fucking clothes you love so much." Alex growled, he really hated this woman. Blacklight instincts had marked Ragyo as a rival Apex Predator and as such her existence was fanning the flames of hate in the Supreme Alpha.

"Such bestial language Avarice, finally showing your true nature?" Ragyo said before jumping back before Alex had a chance to skewer her with a explosion of Blacklight tendril spikes.

" **DANE!** " Alex roared over to his allied Alpha. "We're leaving!" He raged, hating to leave Ragyo alive. Dane arched an eyebrow at the apparent cowardice. "Don't you fucking start getting ideas! This is not a fight between Evolved, so I can retreat all I damn well want!" Alex angrily pointed out, if this had been a fight between Evolved the act of an Alpha running away would say to all other Evolved that they were no longer in charge, and there was an open season on their head. But this was not that case, this was a fight between a Evolved Alpha and another entity altogether. And it wasn't like Dane would do much better, so the point was a good one. "Release the Horrors!"

"Very well, we won anyways." Dane said much to the irritation of Ragyo. Dane then focused on the clutch of pods they had brought with them and hidden inside the cargo areas of the Revocs headquarters. Down, far below the fight between super beings, twenty four pods cracked open and twenty four Blacklight Horrors poured out to wreak carnage in the building.

"What was that, what have you brought you little beasts?!" Ragyo stopped smirking now as she was weary of what they might have unleashed in her domain.

"We call them Horrors, they're our terror units and they are a _bitch_ to clean out." Alex grinned at the frown forming on Ragyo's face. "And besides, Dane's right, we've already won this fight."

"You think you two have won, even if you dare to think you can escape me and the Life Fibers, you think you've come out of this encounter the victor?!"

"Yes, just confirming Life Fibers exist means we have won in this meeting." Dane said, arms crossed confidently as he planned out their exit strategy. "Not only that but we have gained much in the way of combat data as well as details on your plans and mindset. As for our escape…" Just then Ragyo was blinded by a swarm of crows, all clawing and pecking at her before flying away. When Ragyo was able to see again she saw both Dane and the man she knew as Avarice Mercy to be gone.

* * *

"Fucking **fuck**! That bitch got the better of us!" Alex's fist obliterated a nearby air conditioning unit as he and Dane collected themselves on a rooftop on the fringes of the city. "These Life Fibers are going to be a real problem. We can't consume them, and fighting them is a sonofabitch at the best of times."

"We also have no way of knowing how many humans they've enhanced. Ragyo could be a special case or there might be hundreds like her." Dane mused as Alex continued to curse like a sailor. "Maybe it was a bad idea showing ourselves this early."

"Whatever, what's done is done and now we need a game plan." Alex said as he slumped down against the wall separating the roof from the open air of the street below. "She's got to have opposition, every 'take over the world' plan breeds dissenters. Plus Ragyo screams of a woman that would make quite a few enemies out of former allies. See if any of her old friends are still kicking."

"Sure, those Horrors should be causing enough of a distraction for us to move a little freely among her staff." Dane said as he planned on consuming a few Revocs workers, knowing full well he'd have to be cautious due to the likely presence of Life Fibers in their clothes or bodies. He knew that Alex threw up tainted blood when he encountered them, so unless they wanted to risk an outbreak he would need to be extra careful to clean up any messes.

"That's good, I'm going to wait here, and later I think I might go do some hunting. I need to replenish my Biomass in case goose lady comes looking for a round two." Dane nodded and jumped off the roof, gliding away as his boss was left to himself. "Fuck… that fucking bitch." Alex sighed as he really wished he had a cigarette or a beer on hand. This trip had really not gone as he thought, but he had to expect this to happen at some point. The dice roll had come up badly, and he was faced with an enemy that could match him. He knew this day was coming ever since Mileena's old squad showed their hand, but he never expected it to come in the form of Ragyo Kiryuin.

* * *

Tokuma Norio was fleeing for his life in abject terror, something he never once in his time on Earth thought he would need to do. Never did he think he would be in a situation that out of a horror movie. But here he was running from those… **monsters**.

As he ducked around a corner while holding onto his mouth to try to conceal his breath, he turned around to get a small peek behind him. He saw down at the end of the hall two of his coworkers being dragged off by the monsters that had come out of the vents five minutes ago. They were tall, almost too tall for the hallways. and skeletally thin. But the creepiest thing about them was their mouths, huge and running sideways down their face, neck, and upper torso.

He watched in horror as one of them began eating Azami whole. She screamed as it pulled her into the gaping mouth, small tubes extending out from the hole, poking and inserting themselves into her body. Her screams soon died out, her struggles ceasing as the monster pushed her all the way into its body like there were no bones to offer resistance.

Norio couldn't watch anymore as they began eating Marise next. He quickly began running down the next hall as fast as he could. Pure terror flooded through his veins, pushing him to go faster. The sounds of bumps and screeches in the air vents only added to the fear and sense of dread. His mind not remembering all those horror movies he had seen, all those times he had laughed at the stupid victims as they made such moronic mistakes. He then made the mistake of hiding in the first room that he came across: a broom closet. He rushed inside, slammed the door and locked it tight, then barricaded it with anything he could find.

"Shit shit shit shit… what the fuck… I'm just the fucking IT guy at a clothing company! Monsters and horror shows are supposed to happen in American big cities, not a clothing company in Japan!" Norio cried as he huddled in the back of the closet, but in his panic he had never noticed the black and orange fluid sliding down from the ceiling and quickly forming into the shape of a man. "Wait! What was… ugh!" The last thing Norio saw was another monster punching him through the gut while small tendrils shot into his body.

 _"_ _All the access I need to peek into Revocs' personnel files…. lucky me"_ Dane thought as he continued his hunt through the building.

* * *

Alex didn't even react to the presence that landed to the roof, it was strange. He detected no real smell that he recognized as biological, just the scent of perfume, and tacky gaudy stuff at that. Plus the sounds the presence made weren't normal human breathing patterns, much too few and far between. It was almost like it was more mimicking the act of breathing then actually breathing.

"Golly gee, that was sure fun to watch." It had an annoyingly cutesy voice, making an attempt to sound like a young girl but there was again an artificial undertone that gave Alex pause. "I've never seen Lady Ragyo have so much fun with someone!" He decided it was best to get whatever bothersome issues that had followed him over with. He looked up and to his continued irritation saw at a small girl in a pink lolita-style dress, even complete with a matching parasol.

"Oh, what fresh hell is this?" Alex sighed not enjoying the strangeness that seemed to be around this city. It wasn't that he didn't like strange, he loved it as it made life so much more interesting, but this girl was not the brand of strange he enjoyed. "So I assume you're a spaghetti monster as well?" Alex said with very little effort in his speech. He was tired, pissed and past the mood for bravado. The girl only responded with a growing smile as she pulled out a tape measure.

"That's right, though I'm insulted to be compared to something so crude."

"You seem to be very good at hiding your emotions." Alex grinned, but on the inside, he was getting more irritated by Life Fibers and their habit of breaking the rules. Whatever this _thing_ was it was giving off zero biological reactions, and even though Alex didn't have Dex's Limelight-enhanced senses, he still had a higher level than any normal human. Plus, he had the memories of dozens of interrogators, psychologists, and profilers working for him. Since the being before him displayed zero micro-expressions, changes in scent, posture shifts, or nervous tics, all these things were useless in the current situation. "But I can guess you want to kill me."

"Wow, you sure are smart." Even Alex could tell that was sarcasm. In the blink of an eye, she whipped her measuring tape through the air, only to be met by Alex's Viral Armor as he mentally commanded it to boost its hardness at the temporary cost of movement. This worked out and the girl's rush of attacks had no effect.

"Well, looks like that flimsy piece of shit isn't nearly as effective as those swords that cunt made."

"Don't you dare speak that way about Lady Ragyo!" That had the exact reaction Alex wanted and expected. The mask this thing wore cracked at the insulting of Ragyo.

"Fuck off, as far as I'm concerned me and her are mortal enemies. There can be only **one** ultimate life form on this world, and I will be it." Alex declared, his voice echoed and grinding due to his Viral Armor. "Now, why don't you be a good little girl like the one you dress up to be, and go back home. I'm not in the mood for any more playtime." Her opponent had already scoped this one out, he knew she was on a completely separate level then Ragyo, but he still wanted to avoid any more lost Biomass.

"Sorry but That's. Not. Up. To. You!" She chirped as she moved toward another attack but was quickly pinned down by a mass of extended tendrils coming from Alex's body.

"You're also a lot slower than Ragyo." Alex said conversationally, putting all his focus on strengthening the tendrils as he could feel the girl push against them with strength that belied her body type. "I already _told_ you I'm not in the mood. The only reason why you even found me was because I need information on Life Fibers and every time you people come to me I gain more insight on how you all tick." One of the tendrils moved over to the girl's face and shifted into a wicked multi-pronged claw. "Now, answer my questions or I'll take an eye from you."

"Like you could hurt me, you naked beast!" The girl mocked not at all concerned with the delicate situation she was in: pinned down by tendrils coming from a demonic looking super being while a claw hung right over their eye waiting to gouge said eye out. Alex didn't say anything before making good on his threat and quickly piercing the girl's eye with his claw. He could feel the Life Fibers fighting, but the resistance wasn't nearly enough to stop him and he soon had a bloody blue eye in the grasp of one his tendrils. He brought the grisly sample up to his face and studied the object while he knew the girl was regenerating a new one.

"So, not only can you heal by reattaching limbs and body parts back together, but you can regenerate. Shit… well, let's see how far this goes." Alex said as he shifted the tips of several of his tendrils into blades and began cutting into the girl with surgical precision. He could feel the Life Fiber creature struggle more to get free, but he merely tightened his grip. To Alex's interest, his captive seemed to do so more fiercely once he started moving to the more vital organs, including the lungs and heart. "Ah… so you _do_ have some weaknesses." Alex would grin if he had a mouth, but as he was still in his armored form he had no face beyond the menacing slots that were where his eyes should be. One of the tendrils pulled the heart out of the body without separating the two completely, after which the girl began fighting the most. Alex brought the organ over to his eyes, quickly noticing that it wasn't a normal heart by any means. The girl's nature as a Life Fiber being was made apparent by the purple threads woven throughout its flesh. "Very interesting indeed…" Alex said before returning the heart to its normal place. "… it still functions even when taken out of the body." He mused dispassionately, he had found another place where Life Fibers and Blacklight differed.

As it would appear that Life Fiber beings only had one heart and likely other vital organs as would be the case when taken into account the urgency the girl gave when he had her heart in his control and the fact it still was connected and functioned. Blacklight seemed to have the advantage in this regard, as when an organ got destroyed or removed it would turn to raw biomass and attempt to reunite with its original body. Evolved are able to survive short periods without their vital organs, much longer than needed as once an organ was lost a replacement was made. For situations of worse damage, the body could go into a stasis/reboot state where the body would regenerate the entire lost portion of the body to its last functional state. This was how Evolved could have their heads and brains taken off and still remain the same person. Ordinary flesh and DNA had no memory, but Blacklight remembered everything.

Alex continued his dissection, never wavering or hesitation during the mutilation. Despite the childlike form the thing had, Alex paid it no mind. He didn't even see this thing as anything close to a human, and he wasn't going to give it any special treatment. The former Gentek scientist's morals concerning even human life were shaky at best considering Infected and Evolved were his highest priority. He had no issue performing incredibly painful, and it _was_ nice to know that they could still feel pain, invasive tests on the Life Fiber being's body. The only sounds the thing made was various threats and curses of revenge. Again it was paid it no mind.

"Uh… Alex, what are you doing to…. what appears to be an underage girl?" Dane said as he came to rest on the roof an hour later.

"You, shut up, this is a fucking Life Fiber being. I'm just testing a few theories on it." Alex explained.

"It still looks rather lewd to me." Dane commented before his Alpha dropped the body to the roof. It had served its purpose now that Dane had returned with information of what they could do.

"You… you damn beasts… I'll rip you to shreds…"

"You're welcome to try, I still have enough biomass to heal from any wound you inflect." Alex mocked as he stood up. "But... I don't have time to play with you anymore." At that he once again escaped via his crows while Dane vaulted into a glide, leaving the strange Life Fiber being without another word.

* * *

Ragyo pierced the head of what she hoped was the last of these creatures. Those _vermin_ had left quite the nasty parting gift, creatures that had sowed chaos and panic throughout _her_ domain. The attack would no doubt set her shortest-term plans back by months, though her long-term ones were untouched.

They had killed and demoralized many within her headquarters. To the pigs in human clothing these things could be viewed with terror. From the way they moved to their appearance, it was the stuff of nightmares. But Ragyo was something far above the naked apes that worked for her, so she was easily able to kill off all twenty three of the monsters. She had received no more reports of incidents and was now assuming that she had finished them off.

"Hoomaru, be sure to install a checkpoint for all incoming shipments. We don't want more of these creatures making their way into our home now do we?"

"Not at all Lady Ragyo, it will be done."

"Good, now our next task is to find… what happened my dear Nui?" Ragyo asked as she sensed the distraught feelings in the Grand Couturier of Revocs.

"Oh Lady Ragyo!" Nui wailed, crying as she appeared next to her, it was a sight that Ragyo was unused to seeing. "It was horrible! I went to finish of the naked beasts that you were fighting with and... and…" Nui sobbed as she tried to explain what happened before she turned cold and emotionless. "… that bastard _cut_ me… he cut me open and played with my body like a lab mouse… we have to make him **pay**."

"Oh we will…" Ragyo confirmed. Her voice barely hiding the rage she was feeling. "… these new beasts will not get away with such an insult." She said, fully intent on making good on her promise. First she would deal with the apparent mental damage the encounter had wrought on her precious Nui.

* * *

"You sure that this guy is who we're looking for?" Alex asked Dane as they approached a large mansion. The grounds were poorly kept and few if any of the lights in the house seemed to be on.

"Yes I'm sure. From the various memories I gained from the employees and the intel I got from their computer networks, I was able to piece together that this man is likely a turncoat. He's currently a Revocs scientist but as I said it is suspected that he's not as loyal as he seems." Dane explained as they approached the door.

"Is there a chance that he's being watched?" Alex said as he knocked on the door.

"Doubtful, I don't sense any nearby lifeforms, and there wasn't a single memory I found of surveillance being used. Plus, if he really _is_ against Ragyo then I'd expect him to be paranoid enough to have deterrents for that sort of thing." The two of them waited for a while before Alex knocked again. They waited still longer. "I really hate people who don't respond on time." Dane mumbled while Alex also was getting more aggravated. Just as one of them was about to kick the door down, it creaked open, revealing a five year child behind it.

"Eh… I think you might have gotten a few things wrong." Alex smirked at Dane who just ignored him.

"Well hello there miss, we're here to see one Isshin Matoi, is he here?" Dane said flashing his trademark grin. The girl just stared, frowned and slammed the door in their faces.

"Smart girl." Alex commented before turning into a murder of crows and flying up to the roof. Dane followed him with a single jump up and then watched as he flew down the chimney. The room Alex found himself in was a mess, piles of books caked in dust that also blanketed everything else. He was frowning as he reformed back into his human shape. From what he saw at the front door there was at the very least one child living here. A house as big as this might be hard to keep perfectly clean but from the look of his surroundings it was clear that this place might be a danger to the child. Alex experienced a brief surge of emotion that reminded him of how hungry he was, at least he was assuming that the feeling in his gut was hunger.

The Viral moved delicately through the room without disturbing a single mote of dust. The hall he found outside of the room was just as poorly-kept as the room with the fireplace. The floor looked to be at least somewhat clean, but the walls and paintings were faded, peeling, and grimy. Alex noted that a few of the paintings were torn apart in very much the fashion of someone venting their feelings on one of the people in said painting. Alex walked through the hall, not concealing his footsteps as his goal was to find another person.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Ah, just the man he was looking for. He turned his head slightly and found an old scraggly-faced man pointing a shotgun straight at his head. The old man was wearing a lab coat, so it wasn't a tremendous leap to assume he was the scientist that Dane had spoken about.

"Ah, doctor Matoi. My friend and I tried knocking, but no such luck it seemed." His remark was met with the sound of the gun cocking. "Then there was a girl who slammed the door in our faces at the mention of your name." The elderly-looking man narrowed his eyes. "But to answer your demands…" in the span of a second Alex turned around and snatched the gun from his hands. "… my name is Avarice Mercy…" Alex introduced himself under his stage name while emptying the ammo onto the floor. "… and we need to talk about Life Fibers, as well as your work on destroying them."

"So that bitch found me out, earlier than I expected but not unprepared for…" The doctor's hand rushed to grab something in his coat only to be stopped by a Blacklight tendril extending from Alex's arm to his wrist.

"You are mistaken, I'm not part of Ragyo's little clothing circus." Alex said before shifting into his Viral Armor. "I'm simply another predator seeking to eliminate my competition."

"What… what are you?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the Blacklight Virus." Came the answer, Isshin Matoi's eyes narrowing again as he pieced together the situation he found himself in. Alex had no doubts that a man like him had heard of Blacklight, if nothing else than as a potential means of achieving his own goals. "Here's what's going to happen, I'm going to let you go and we are going to let in my underling. I'm absolutely sure you've heard of him: Dane Vogel of the Ultor corporation. You and him can talk business while I raid your kitchen as I find myself hungry for something to eat." Alex said before releasing the doctor and starting to walk toward the front of the mansion. Isshin meanwhile was a little shocked and confused at the day's events. It had started as a normal day in his lab, then came an intruder alert, him thinking that Ragyo had finally figured him out, and now he had himself a meeting with the Chairman of the greatest threat to Revocs and a creature of a virus that destroyed a major US city.

The two walked back to the front door and let Dane in, Doctor Matoi and Dane exchanged greetings with Matoi praising Dane for his company's efforts to keep Revocs at bay. The executive just waved it off, Ultor wasn't trying to do anything but make a profit. The doctor explained that the girl that had slammed the door in their faces had been his five year old daughter Ryūko, the two of them had a fairly strained relationship as he had dedicated so much of his time towards fighting the Life Fibers. Alex had noted the pain in the man's voice at speaking about this however brief it was, so he at least didn't outright detest the man. The scientist at the very least knew that he was in the wrong with how he was treating his own family, and his reasons for doing so were also at least defendable. Didn't mean Alex had to like it given how pro family he was, but he could understand the situation.

Doctor Matoi cordially brought the two Alphas to his lab and showed them his research notes. Matoi had begun the story of how he came to work with and research Life Fibers, how he found out their evil history and plans, and his efforts to end them. Dane was mostly the one listening while Alex just skimmed the notes, but both men could tell that this version of events was a lie, a lie wrapped in truthful facts but a lie nonetheless. The doctor was hiding personal events, but both of the Virals knew that at some point or another they would find out so they left the issue alone for now.

"They honestly think that Life Fibers are some alien force that _evolved_ humans for food?" Alex asked as Matoi finished explaining more about the lore of Life Fibers.

"Yes, ridiculous. But that shows the level of insanity the Life Fibers inflict on their victims. They have no physical proof on the matter, and there is substantial evidence against them." Matoi scoffed. "But the true origins of the Life Fibers are shrouded in mystery with only that harebrained explanation the only answer we have."

" _I have a pretty good theory_." Alex thought, though he seriously wished it was wrong. "Are you sure that Life Fibers weren't made by Ragyo?"

"No, they found her. Not the other way around."

"Shit… then that means it's highly likely that Life Fibers are a creation of those fucking reality tumors." Alex grumbled to himself, leaving both Dane and doctor Matoi confused.

"Uh, Alex… something you wish to share?" Dane said not liking the idea of Alex keeping information all to himself.

"No, doesn't matter. Matoi, have you been in contact with the Illuminati?" Alex asked as he set down the notes currently in his hands.

"Yes, they are one of the backers of my organization. I have tried to explain the threat Life Fibers pose, but they assured me that my efforts are all that is needed at this point." Matoi said with clear irritation in his voice at the inaction.

"I'm sure that they know exactly what kind of threats there are. If they think that everything is under control, then it is. It's their job and they do it well." Alex confirmed much to the slight vexation of the doctor.

"Never knew you to hold them in such high regard Alex." Dane said, he had been informed of the Illuminati and bits of information on their purpose by both Alex and Mileena. He was sure that they were holding back but it was fine, that whole world was not something Dane felt any reason to learn anything more about.

"They _do_ do their job thoroughly, well… the main branch does anyways." Alex chuckled as he began walking out of the lab.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Dane asked as he watched his Supreme Alpha start to leave.

"Gonna find food, feeling hungry ever since we got here." Alex responded before opening the door to the rest of the mansion. "You can get the rest of the details and work out so kind of deal I am sure…" Alex said before closing the door behind him."

"Your leader is not a very _hands on_ type of person." Matoi observed with a small measure of concern.

"He is when he needs to be, problem is… he's the one to decide when that time is." Dane sighed as he prepared himself for the next stage of their discussion. Meanwhile Alex continued his walk through the large mansion that was the doctor and his daughter's home. There was a notable lack of any personal items, photos, or anything that suggested that anything resembling a family lived here.

"What could drive a man to drown himself in work enough to ignore his own daughter. It better have been terrible… or I might start considering killing the fool on principle." Alex grunted as he made his way through the dusty halls, focusing on where there was the least amount of said dust. The kitchen had to at least be somewhat clean and therefore a simple path the his objective. Alex's enhanced senses picked up the sound of a small child struggling with something, or at least that's what he guessed at. The various memories of mothers and fathers he had in him had similar sounds banked away as _child trying to steal from cookie jar_.

Alex was smiling as he opened the door, expecting to see the cute sight but to his surprise that wasn't what met his eyes. Instead of a child piling boxes on a chair trying to reach a jar on top of a refrigerator, it was a child standing on a pile of boxes so that she could see what she was doing on the stove. From the smell, Alex could tell it was rice boiling in water.

The child turned around at the sound of the door, likely expecting her father but was surprised to see the stranger she had slammed the door on. The surprise caused her to tilt back, cartwheeling her arms atop the small tower of boxes she was using to support herself. Bad luck and Murphy's Law went into full effect as she fell back, flipping the boiling pot of water up into the air as she did so. Everything slowed to crawl, the girl falling to the ground and the boiling water hanging above her in the air, ready to fall down with her and scald her. But once she hit the floor, the pain of the boiling water never came.

" _Daijōbudesu ka_?" Alex asked in flawless Japanese as he expected she had yet to learn a word of English. The girl opened her eyes and saw the man that had come in standing over her, quickly figuring out what just happened. that he had just saved her. " _Watashi o shinpaishinaide, watashi wa hontōni hayaku iyasu_." Alex said in response to the concerned look in the child's eyes, alleviating any worries she might have over him. But once the moment of concern passed the girl's face had hardened with a slightly forced scowl.

" _Watashi wa anata no tasuke o hitsuyō to shimasendeshita. Watashi mo hayaku iyasu._ " The girl pouted, feeling the need not to have to rely on anyone. Alex quietly chuckled as he stood upright again, remembering how the rebellious stage came early for the neglected. But it was the second part of her statement that had him interested even more _, I also heal faster._ Given whose daughter she was, it wasn't a stretch to connect a few points into a working theory.

"Is that so… interesting. _Izure ni seyo, watashi wa anata no shokuji o dainashi ni shimashita. Anata ga tsukutta no wa mubōdeshitaga, watashi wa sore o_." Alex promised to make the girl a replacement meal after he had been the cause of the loss of meal in the first place. She looked back up at him with slight surprise at the idea. She watched as Alex checked though the kitchen to see what he was working with, frowning the whole time and muttering stuff in English. She thought that maybe he was regretting making the promise to help her, but in reality Alex was slightly peeved at the limited ingredients he had to work with. He found himself having to pull out every memory from any chefs he had consumed and every reality cooking show his victims had watched, "Only instead of a mystery basket ingredient to deal with… I have a kitchen filled with expired packaged foodstuff and very limited quantity of actual fresh food." Alex grumbled as he went through another cabinet. Eventually he had assembled a… workable amount of ingredients. The girl's eyes widened at the sight of Alex shifting his arm into a bio-claw to chop up some onions. She didn't run away, scream or otherwise display alarm, just continued to watch as he prepared the food.

" _Anata wa nanimonodesu ka?_ " The question was completely innocent. Anyone would ask what someone was after seeing them morph their arm into something else, and the way she spoke lacked any fear or disgust, just curiosity.

" _Watashi wa ningendesu. Yuiitsu no chigai wa, hotondo no hito ga watashi no yō ni shinka shite inai to iu kotodesu._ " Alex replied, giving a honest answer. He _was_ human. Just a little more evolved than most. " _Anata wa dōdesu ka?_ " Alex asked with a slight smile. He knew the true answer, she was a Life Fiber being, but he wanted to see if she knew that and if so what she might believe on the subject.

" _Watashi wa ningendesu_." So she _didn't_ know, she still thought she was human. There might be more truth to that than what Alex first thought. She didn't give off the same artificial sense of existing as the fake girl he had played with on the roof. She felt more like Ragyo, _disturbingly_ like Ragyo. But the fact that his Blacklight instincts weren't demanding he rip her limb from limb said a lot. It meant that she was human enough to not cause a trigger for hostility from Blacklight. Alex continued to prepare the meal and soon placed all of the ingredients into a pot to let the whole thing cook. "That felt nice… different than what I normally use these things for." Alex said to himself as he splayed his fingers and looked at his bio-claws. He then looked back to the child, his mind racing through all the information currently present to him. As the food cooked and the girl looked up at the stove clearly anticipating the heavenly-smelling meal, Alex was formulating a multitude of plans for the future and how might he implement them. Though he didn't actively realize it, many of those plans were being influenced by both his Blacklight instincts and his subconscious wants and desires. After the timer on the stove dinged and Alex prepared the meal for the girl, he watched passively as she ate before he spoke again, still in Japanese. "Hey kid… if you wanted… would you like to come with me and leave this place?"

* * *

Reviews

Helkil - I will see if I can sip them in. Don't have every bit of SR3 planned out and I won't be doing everything they did in SR3 but I can see what I can do.

Amvmaster - thank you and WD fun will be coming but sorry but you might have to wait a while. I have a lot of work to do. Please try to enjoy what I am able to do now.

rmarcano321 - not what you expected huh?

Xalimech - More Constructs are in the works and Revocs and Life Fibers are becoming a little more involved now.

Notsae - yes I didn't want Blacklight to OP the shit out of Life Fibers so I made them slightly immune to Blacklight. Doesn't mean they can't be stabbed to death... eventually.

IAmPedobear - No SR4 as it is too in conflict with sequel plans. Thank you for reading


	37. Loss and Gain

As Alex stood beside her, Ryūko looked back at what had been her home for all her life. She had accepted his offer of taking her away from her biological father rather quickly, so quickly that he got a tiny bit more pissed off with the doctor. Still, he put aside his anger and helped Ryūko pack what few belongings she had. He went back to Dane and Doctor Matoi who were just finishing their talks. Alex tamped his anger down for three more tense minutes before leaving with Dane in tow. Dane had been curious as to why Alex wanted to leave so quickly, but Alex just responded that he wanted to return to Stilwater and its many vices. There was a bit of truth to that, so he bought it. Alex told Dane to go ahead of him so he could leave behind a small bit of his Biomass to monitor the Doctor. Dane once again bought this reason and proceeded on to the airport without Alex. Alex then went back to the mansion and retrieved Ryūko.

The two were now standing on the road leading out of the mansion's grounds, Ryūko taking her last looks and Alex waiting for her to do so. To his surprise and slight relief, she wasn't entirely emotionally dead towards the place and what it represented. Soon, tears began forming in her eyes much to her trying to hide them. He could already tell she was going to be a stubborn one.

"Hey hey hey…" Alex said as he kneeled down to her. "Quit crying." He uttered bluntly with a playful tap to her forehead. "You don't need to cry anymore, you got me and I'm not going anywhere. So you can just lean on me when you're feeling sad and I'll make it all better." Alex said, and to his continued surprise the girl cried even harder as she grabbed ahold of him. Completely unused to this chain of events, he awkwardly hugged back as he tried to bring up any memories that might help him in this moment. Before he had finished, it had passed and Ryūko let go smiling.

"Come on new dad, let's get going." She said before starting to walk down the path out. This sudden shift left Alex slightly flustered and at a loss for words. The Supreme Alpha of the Blacklight Hive minds had been rendered speechless by a five-year-old girl. He was unbelievably grateful that no one was around to see it.

* * *

"Ryūko? Where is that girl…" Isshin Matoi called out as he searched his home for his daughter. He had checked her room and everywhere he knew that she spent her time. He wanted to make sure she was okay and knew that the men that had come before were now welcome in their shared home.

The meeting between the Blacklight beings had been an encouraging one. While they had lacked the personal drive he had in his fight against the Life Fibers, they had a instinctive one as competing Apex beings. There was a bit of worry on Matoi's part in that he might be choosing between one devil or another. Though, if it meant seeing off his heartless bitch of an ex-wife towards burning in hell, he would gladly hand the world over to the living virus.

He had sacrificed so much in his fight against her, and he dearly hoped the last five years had been worth it. He knew that the woman he had fallen in love with was dead the second he watched her coldly press the button to incinerate their second daughter. Their own offspring, disposed of like a dirty petri-dish because she had failed her mother's insane tests to merge her with Life Fibers. But he had saved Ryūko and escaped with her intact. He later found out that his daughter had in fact passed those same tests Ragyo had performed on her. He spent that day in a fit of insane laughter, at the irony of it all, at the blind stupidity of his ex-wife, at everything.

But he knew that he had become a broken man, one made bitter and stubbornly cold. Not a man fit to take care of a child, he had never shown his daughter the love he knew she deserved. He had plans to make up in some small way. Never in a way that would truly make everything even. But he would make sure that Ryūko would never have to live in a world with such evil. It did not matter if she hated him, in fact he welcomed it. He deserved it all and far worse.

"Ryūko! I need to speak with you!" He once again called out, trying his hardest to push down the irritation forming in his mind. He sincerely hoped that she somehow didn't inherit either of her parents' tempers. He soon came upon the kitchen, it was in a state that made him want to gag. Normally he would sustain himself on takeout and whatever his co-conspirators had brought him in some misguided feelings of concern. He was about to move on in his search once he saw she was not here when he saw a note on the table. Isshin saw it was in English, so he knew it had to have been left by his earlier guests. He did recall one of them had left to find food.

 _Dear Doctor Matoi, I have kidnapped your daughter._

He had to frantically reread the beginning of the note three times before he finally was able to gather his thoughts. This was not what he had been expecting at all, and he was unsure how to feel on this.

 _Dear Doctor Matoi, I have kidnapped your daughter._

 _That is right and this is no joke. I found the girl trying to make herself some food on the stove. Your daughter, left unsupervised, had piled up food boxes in order to cook her own meals on an appliance taller than she was. The sight of this was heartbreaking to say the_ _ **very fucking least**_ _. She ended up falling off her tower of junk once she notice I had come into the room, flipping the boiling pot along with her. I reacted like a decent adult and saved her from injury… though we both know that with what she is, it was an unnecessary action. I decided to step up and cook a simple meal for her, and then I asked her that, if she truly wanted, she could come away to live with me. I'm sure it'll be a kick to the balls to hear that she readily said yes. And so I took her… so… handle that as you want._

 _I leave this place with your daughter knowing that she will be better in my care. She will be plenty safe from her mother, yes I was able to figure that out, and no I feel no inclination to harm Ryūko because of her connection to that cunt. I also understand that you are a fucked up man, damaged by the years of pain from just being near said cunt, but I do have to conceded that I'm sure you enjoyed parts of the union… parts that I may enjoy myself if my plans of breaking her bear fruit. Please take comfort that this will involve massive amounts of pain, humiliation, and many car batteries. But back to me taking your daughter, I can understand though I cannot accept your reasons for neglecting Ryūko, but I'm going to pull the old classic if you truly love her… you'll let me take care of her. It may be cliché, but it is true._

 _I'm sure you might have some worries over the fact a living super virus, slash hedonistic gangbanging psychopath is a better option than yourself. With all due respect… fuck your worries. I'm a living super virus, slash hedonistic gangbanging psychopath so I don't need to listen to your shit. On a more serious note, know that I undertake this with great care and responsibility. I take the idea of family to heart more than anyone on the goddamn planet. I will never abuse or do wrong by Ryūko. I make that promise on either Ragyo's dead corpse or broken mind, whichever happens first._

 _I will be sending the paperwork for transfer of guardianship in the mail. I truly hope that you will see that this is for the best and sign Ryūko over to me. Or don't, I can digitally forge your signature easily. Knowing that you honestly support this would be nice. But that's all… just nice… not necessary._

 _From your Comrade in Arms against spaghetti monsters. Alex Mercer, Zeus, Boss of the Third Street Saints, Supreme Alpha of the Blacklight Hive mind, Badass of all Badass._

Isshin dropped the letter once he had finished reading it. So many conflicting and confusing thoughts raced through his mind. Angry, sadness, relief, guilt, and so many other emotions accompanied those twisting thoughts. He knew so much that had been stated in this letter had been right, that he was a broken man that did not deserve to be in the position of a father, that it was a danger to have Ryūko in the same hemisphere let alone the same country as Ragyo. He wasn't sure how he should feel on this Alex Mercer taking his daughter though.

"Erh… best to accept this…" He said this but the tears forming in his spoke a different feeling. "No need to have her around a broken old man that doesn't even remember to properly feed his own daughter. No… it's better… this way… I will keep my promise to you Ryūko, some day… you won't have to suffer the fact you still live in a world with that monster with your mother's face and name."

* * *

Alex sipped his lemonade as he leaned back in his private jet he and Dane were taking back to Stilwater. Ryūko meanwhile was looking out of the nearby window with great interest in the clouds surrounding the jet. Alex grinned at the child's normal reaction to being on her first plane ride.

When he had first showed up at the runway with Ryūko at his side, to say Dane was upset would be putting it as mildly as one possibly could. The corporate Alpha had actually assaulted Alex in full Viral Armor over the fact he had just potentially ruined a highly valuable alliance. Fortunately, Alex was able to finish the fight quickly this time by catching Dane's incoming hammerfist barehanded. Ryūko had watched the whole thing wide eyed and clearly enjoyed it. Fingers quickly clenching around the caught fist, Alex whipped Dane into the air before slamming him into the ground forty-three times. Ryūko had been ushered into the jet after the eighteenth time by Dane's gamma Jamie, much to the child's protests.

Once Alex had finished his display of power and asserted himself once again, the two boarded the jet and began talking about the issue in the onboard conference room. Dane had politely asked what exactly was going through Alex's head. The explanation he received was that his boss had discovered that Isshin Matoi had apparently had a child with Ragyo, and this child was also a Life Fiber hybrid, but far more advanced than the one he had played with on the roof. Alex figured that it would be a good idea to take the girl and use her against the Life Fibers. Dane conceded this as a valid point, but questioned Alex's choice in taking the girl specifically. Alex scoffed at the idea of leaving her with doctor Matoi. Dane questioned if Alex was deciding this on logical or personal reasons. It was at that point Alex pulled rank on Dane and stated that he didn't need to explain his actions to anyone, as that was what being the Supreme Alpha was about.

Alex had then left Dane to think on the last few days and what would be their plan moving forward where Revocs was concerned. Now that they had conformed that Life Fibers were the reason for Revocs' success, they would need to find a way to use that. They couldn't just tell the world about the "Invasion of The Clothing Parasites", it was all too crazy for anyone to believe. Not only that, but the Fibers' psychic nature meant that the Illuminati wouldn't like it if they told people about them. Alex had figured that they were using Life Fibers to condition the populations of Revocs customers to always buy Revocs brands. Unfortunately Ultor couldn't do the same thing with Blacklight. It would require them to infect _everyone_ for that degree of influence. But Alex wasn't in charge of that problem, that was Dane's headache. He was focused on relaxing with a glass of lemonade in one hand and a case of cashews in the other.

Ryūko was still having the time of her life looking out the window. Until the sound of the food cart came around. Then her head snapped back as the smell of the food came to her nose. Alex had to stifle the laugh that was trying to surface at the bit of drool that was hanging off her lip at the amount of food that was next to them.

"As usual I will have everything… though today I will have to skip on the _extra dessert_." Alex winked to the stewardess and nodded to the five year old next to him. The Infected stewardess slightly frowned in disappointment but followed the Supreme Alpha's orders nonetheless.

" _Is all that for us_?" Ryūko asked, still in her native Japanese as she had yet to learn English.

"Y _up, but first, a challenge_ …" Alex said before handing the tin of nuts he had been holding to Ryūko. " _You must first get at least ten of these nuts into my mouth or I will eat all this food while watch and cry!_ " He said, overdramatically so as to show that he wasn't actually going to do that. So, in about five minutes later Dane walked in on the two as Ryūko was trying to forcefully shove the whole tin down Alex's mouth as she had yet to get a single nut in by throwing it.

"Yeah… this is going to be a great plan Alex." Dane sighed as he quickly left the main cabin for his own.

* * *

Ragyo was going over an assembled report on her newest foe: the Blacklight virus. It had been easy to determine that it was this mutative supervirus that had been released by Avarice when his body rejected her own Life Fibers. So far she had learned that her enemy was not to be underestimated, seeing as it had been responsible for the destruction of New York City. She remembered years back feeling quite saddened to hear of New York's fashion expos being canceled, yet another sin this pestilence had committed.

The intel she had gathered was minimal at best, other than rumors and scattered news reports about the destruction of the major American city there had been little substance to her findings. According to her contacts, this "Blackwatch" was very good at purging all witnesses and leakers on the subject. She also had to remember to avoid these particular pigs in human clothing as not only had they committed several crimes against fashion but they might also prove troublesome through their own lack of humanity. Their willingness to do anything for victory was a threat in and of itself that she would not want to deal with.

But, so long as she avoided the eye of Blackwatch, an easy task since she was not in any way infected, all she had to deal with was Blacklight. She thought about tipping off the special ops group about the continued existence of their prey, but that might bring their attention to her and the Life Fibers. Not only that but she wanted to be the one to tear Blacklight apart piece by piece.

So far all she knew of Blacklight was that it was able of craft beings of power comparable to herself, and that it was capable of creating mass destruction though mutation and infection. Though from the talk between them, Avarice was clearly the more powerful of the two interlopers. The way he had said the fight between her and him didn't count in terms of weakness to other Viral beings was interesting in that it gave her a glimpse into the inner workings of these so called Hives. _The strongest rule_ , did that mean it was run by brutes with no intelligence? Ragyo could only hope so.

But she wondered if Avarice was at the top of these Hives. She had thought so until she obtained a stolen Blackwatch report on a being codenamed "Zeus." Lately she had become quite captivated by this individual, the first success of the Blacklight bioweapon, true name Alex Mercer, a handsome man with a cold scowl that sent shivers down Ragyo's spine. She was currently scanning a projected image of the subject as the doors to her office opened. She knew who it was, and she never once looked away from her object of fascination.

"Lady Ragyo, your daughter has arrived." Hoomaru announced as she escorted Ragyo's daughter, Satsuki over to Ragyo's desk.

"Thank you Hoomaru, please make sure that…" Ragyo was interrupted by the echoing sound of something crawling through the air vents. Satsuki raised an eye at the sound while Ragyo just scowled. For the past month they had found that they had eliminated all but one of those irritating Blacklight Horrors, the survivor eluding every attempt to kill it. Ragyo was at the point of seriously considering sealing the building and gassing the whole place.

"Something wrong mother?" Satsuki asked in her normal monotone, only a slight hint of interest rode the sounds of the emotionless words. Ragyo smiled at the steely composure her daughter maintained, even she had yet to gain access to what lurked under that face of stone.

"Nothing my dear, just a cockroach that keeps coming back." Satsuki showed only the faintest of reaction to the growl of annoyance Ragyo let out. This Horror had been a pain, it had her whole staff on edge. Barely any work was getting done, it made deliberate sounds of terror in the form of bumps in the air vent or bloodcurdling shrieks in the night shifts. Then there was the fact that her staff was dwindling one by one. Nui had tried on four separate occasions to locate the monster but to no success. "But ignoring that, as I was saying… Hoomaru please make sure that the helicopter is ready for departure. Once I finish here I wish to return home with my daughter."

"At once lady Ragyo." Hoomaru bowed before walking off to her assigned task leaving the two Kiryuin women alone.

"So who is that mother?" Satsuki asked as she looked up at the hologram of a man she had never seen before.

"That is Alex Mercer, also known as Zeus. A fitting title I am finding." Ragyo purred as she leaned back in her chair. "A indestructible viral being that was able to kill thousands of well-trained soldiers, monsters born out of madmen's nightmares, and even withstand nuclear fire." Satsuki listened quietly as Ragyo listed of his accomplishments. "Now this being rules a shadow empire composed of corporations and criminal syndicates. Along with his own army of viral monsters, he is truly an amusing man….. despite the poor quality of company he keeps." The image changed from Alex Mercer to a video of Ragyo and Avarice Mercy's fight.

"And this one is the one that insulted you?"

"Yes, a thug and a beast called Avarice Mercy, a pretty name that he should not own." Ragyo reviewed the battle while her daughter watched for the first time. Ragyo also paid attention to the way Satsuki's eyes were scanning the battle with hidden intensity. "These viral beings will be no match for the power that is Covers and the Awakened Life Fibers, and soon, like the pigs in human clothing, they will fall. They will fall even harder for daring to change past what the Life Fibers had planned for humanity."

"And Alex Mercer?"

"Oh don't you worry my dear, I have plans for this being who wears the name of a god."

* * *

" _Dios mío_ , she is so cute!" Luz cheered as she picked up the five year old Ryūko who was looking rather annoyed at being fussed over, but at the same time quite happy to have someone pay attention to her in so long. The inner circle of the Saints had been convened to discuss what had happened in Japan, or at least that was what they had been told. But when they had arrived at Alex's villa, they found him making pancakes for Dana and a small girl they had never seen before. Shaundi and Lin had been too shocked to react, mostly by the fact Alex had introduced the girl as his new daughter. Luz passed over that part because Alex had focused on her in the Hive Mind to make things easier. Carlos and Pierce had long learned to expect the unexpected from him, so Alex doing something stupid and crazy didn't provoke much surprise.

"Damn boss… you just had to beat me and Eesh at having kids huh?" Gat joked as he swiped a plate of pancakes from his Alpha. He was perfectly fine with this, if anything it meant that Alex was going to have to commiserate and share the pains of parenthood with the Gat couple, even if he did kinda skip over the baby years.

"Sorry 'bout that, but I just couldn't leave her where she was. Besides, the kid has spunk… a-a-a-a-and now I've turned into the old man…" Alex grumbled privately after feeling ashamed of himself. The two then turned back at the sound of Luz screaming as Ryūko fell back to the ground.

" _El pequeño mocoso acaba de morderme!_ " Luz yelled out as Ryūko scampered behind Alex.

"Yeah she does that, not a big fan of people invading personal space." Alex warned to the rest of them.

"Alright! We need to talk about just what the _hell_ is going on." Lin said as she came to her senses. "Alex… just what happened over in Japan?" She said looking down at the girl hiding behind him and sticking its tongue out at the group.

"Most importantly, since when do you have a kid?" Carlos asked in a much calmer tone than Lin.

"First off, she's not mine." Alex said and while that had been very obvious, the flashes of relief going across Luz, Shandi, and Lin's faces did form, as well as the wave of relief that came over Mileena which he felt in the Hive Mind. "Second, I have taken a liking to her so do consider her my daughter in all but blood." The finality in his words and presence in the Hive Mind made the Virals in the room gulp with fear. Meanwhile Dana at that sighed and stood up from her seat. "You got som… oh no…" Alex grumbled as his sister began pulling him out of the room. Everyone was left in silence as the two siblings left, nobody really knowing what to do at that point. "Okay I get it you want to talk!" Alex shouted as Dana let go once they had reached his bedroom.

"Alex, when you first said that girl was your daughter to the morons downstairs I thought it was trying to be funny. Which it would have been. But what you just said goes beyond a joke." Dana said with her arms crossed and look of complete seriousness on her face.

"Because it isn't. I…"

"Alex!" Dana yelled interrupting him. "I…. I'm getting really concerned about you, I've said this before and meant it but now… I'm getting really scared that something is wrong with you, _really_ wrong. Ever since you lived though that nuke, and I'm not saying that you don't deserve to let loose a bit, but ever since that nuke I've noticed that you've been getting more and more unstable. You eat like it's a Vegas-style buffet for every meal, the amount of booze you've drank could fill a lake, the mountains of drugs you've taken would have made any Colombian kingpin OD by now, and you've become a goddamn manwhore. You're taking everything in life with zero restraint, and now you want to throw a _child_ into that meat grinder!" Alex said nothing, he just let his sister continue. "I honestly can't take any more of this, the only reason I'm not calling child services is one, they are crap, and two because I trust Aisha to bust your balls enough to something of a decent parent to that girl. But I'm done with all this Alex, I'm going to help Shogo in San Francisco a bit and then I'm done with the Saints, Blacklight too. I thought that I might have been getting through to you but I think now I was just trying to be hopeful." Dana said before walking out of the room leaving Alex to think over what had been said.

Everyone watching wanted to go to either of them, but the look on Dana's face said that she needed space from them all and the sheer amount of _Not in the mood_ Alex was giving off in the Hive Mind crushed any thought of that.

"Uh… any idea what might have happened?" Pierce asked as he looked around for an answer.

"No clue, but I think it's best to just let the boss have his time alone." Carlos advised to the others but Gat just laughed from his place at the dining table.

"Might want to say that in Japanese." Gat said as he pointed to the young girl now running up the stairs. "Let her." Gat ordered as they jumped up to stop her.

"In the mood he's in he'll kill her." Carlos said in shock of Gat's orders.

"No, he won't, and besides… this is a good test to see if he was serious about this whole thing." Meanwhile Ryūko was standing at the close of where she heard all the loud screaming. She couldn't understand what was being said but she understood that something had happened and that her new father figure was upset. When her last father got angry the best thing for to do was hide, but in the young girl's mind Alex was the opposite of her previous father and so he needed the opposite action from her.

The second she opened the door a torrent of barbed tendrils crashed into the walls around her, never actually piercing her but close enough that she was truly scared. In the center of the room was a writhing mass of black tendrils and crimson lights. Every now and then there would be a crack in the flowing biomass, and inside was Alex in his Viral form. Ryūko had never seen his other form, she had seen Dane's but Alex's was nothing like that. Whereas Dane's had been sleek and minimal with interlocking plates, Alex's was demonic, barbed and angular. Ryūko wanted nothing more than to run any from the terrifying sight but she stood firm and began walking forward. She knew deep down that something had happened between him and the woman that he had said was his sister this morning. She assumed that it had it be that she was leaving and not coming back, if she had someone she cared about and they left she would be angry too. She continued on, tendrils whipped around her threateningly and one had even cut her cheek as she walked up to the mass of Biomass in the middle of the room. Ryūko reached out to the wall of shifting biomass and to her surprise it opened up. The being inside was still in his Viral form and still not entirely coherent. Alex's mind was a rush of emotions clouding his mental facilities. The more instinctual side of him had taken over much high brain functions. Ryūko continued to move forward, not any fear on her face as she had gotten this far so she knew she had nothing to fear. She walked toward the demonic looking being in the center of the twisting mass of black tendrils, not stopping even once it had started a low growl of warning.

"Hey…" Ryūko started as she moved closer. "Quit crying." She said repeating what he had told her when they had left her home. Even adding the tap to the forehead. "You don't need to cry anymore, you got me and I'm not going anywhere. So you can just lean on me when you're feeling sad and I'll make it all better." She finished with wrapping her arms around his chest, the Viral armor slowly receded toward his back. The tendrils following. Alex's own crying face soon was revealed as he returned the hug.

* * *

Author's Notes Yay! we've reached the 200k mark. And now Dana has bailed on Alex, honestly I wasn't planning on doing that until I made this chapter but I felt that Alex needed to go through some kind of shock. And the timing felt good so it could give him and Ryūko a good bonding moment.

And i'm going to sya this for everyone wondering, Ryūko or any other Life Fiber Hybrids will be Evolved or Infected.

Reviews

Helkil - no... I do plan on making a Batman/Prototype crossover with a Alex/Poison Ivy pairing but nothing planned for this fic.

Xenoguyver - thank you and yes... she will be a lot more Badass because she now has king of all badass as her dad

Notsae - Nui doesn't have human parts for Alex to infect, while not as advance as Ragyo or Ryuko, Nui is still a fully formed Hybrid and thus Life Fibers are intertwined with her whole body. As for why Alex let her go... a fuck you to Ragyo and not worth it. But mostly saying that he is confident enough that he can do stuff like that.

IAmPedobear -Thank you and here it is.

Reads too much - He spent a lot of time in a coma where he learned a few things. and yes they are too incompatible. And yes to Shogo

Rmarcano321 - You said okay with Spoilers. And yes it is... but so does Alex kinda

Xalimech - thank you

Dazac - the meaning of the dialog is stated in the following text. I promise that I won't do that much non English in one scene again.


	38. Father Mother Child Pariah

"If any of you… so much as think about what _might_ have happened up there… I will drown you in acid until you don't come back up." Alex growled out to the assembled Saints who all paled at the deathly serious look gracing their boss' face. Alex and Ryūko had come back down from the upper level of the Villa, and to the Saints' continued shock and slight horror, both were holding hands like a father and daughter would. Said father figure then turned terrifying at the barest hint of mocking, even from Gat. "Now, back to business." Alex breathed out along with everyone else, though each were for completely different reasons.

"Can we, like, talk about what happened in Japan?" Shaundi asked cautiously.

"Yes, myself and Dane arrived without any problems. We then went to the Revocs headquarters and confirmed that Revocs does indeed have access to a resource comparable to Blacklight." At that Alex picked Ryūko off from the table where she had been sitting and carried her, much to her protests, out to the pool and dumped her on a lawn chair. He instructed her to wait for him there. Ryūko hadn't been listening though, as she was enthralled at the sight of her first pool. Seeing this, Alex told her that she was not to go in until she either had swimming lessons or they filled the pool with something she couldn't drown in. The gathering of Saints leaders then reassembled to continue hearing the report on his visit to Japan. "They are called Life Fibers, and they were practically made for enhancing and controlling humans. To this end, they are able to make Life Fiber-human hybrids, the CEO of Revocs is one and so is Ryūko…" Alex explained, pointing to the small child dangling her legs on the pool's edge. This illuminated the Saints further about the child and why the Boss had taken her. The serious tone of the meeting was temporarily disrupted as Alex appeared behind the girl and carried her back to the chair, firmly telling her not to go in the pool. It was increasingly disturbing for them to see this force of nature in the shape of a man acting more and more like a real parent. Alex then walked back and motioned to the Saints to continue.

"So uh… how's this going to affect us?" Carlos asked trying to get to the part that he and the other leaders thought actually mattered.

"I fucking hate Ragyo Kiryuin, that bitch of a CEO of Revocs and apparent queen of the Life Fibers. We fought, and she won… but that will **not** be the case for very long. I **will** have a round two and this time I will fucking **rip** her skull out of her head and use it to beat her body into pulp!" Alex snarled loudly with an anger none of them had seen in a long time. This was a side of him they were far more used to seeing. "But as for the Saints, it does not currently affect us much. Revocs affects Ultor and the Life Fibers affect the Hives. So that is the score and our angle. Don't worry about Revocs, but do understand that one day you all as part of the Supreme Alpha's Hive will be called to battle against another Apex race for domination of the planet. Other than that, keep up the good work in the Saints." Alex said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Everyone but Gat all left quickly as to try and find a place to try and wrap their heads around what had just happened. "Something to say, you two?" Alex asked both his Betas as Gat stood up and Mileena climbed in from the window.

"We won't talk about Dana, but we need to know if you're alright." Mileena said completely unafraid of Alex lashing out.

"Yeah man, you gotta be feeling some serious shit." Gat said nodding also not afraid. "Just say the word and we'll believe you."

"What the hell is it with you two, Betas are supposed to look out for weakness and here you are trying to help. Gat I can understand because we're bros, but you… you still are a mystery to me." Alex said looking at Mileena who just shrugged not caring at Alex's apparent lack of trust. She knew deep down he did in fact trust her as she had proven her loyalty to him several times before.

"And _I've_ told you before how that isn't what Betas do. We're here to support you no matter what, not merely in matters of combat or war."

"Yeah, what she said. We're here for you. I mean, shit… I'll always be there for you, we've bled together, killed together… sometimes with the same gun…" Gat said with mock tears in his eyes.

"Damn it man! Don't talk like that… you're gonna get me all… fuck…" Mileena watched in a mix of fascination and pity as the two men reminisced through their male bonding over violence.

"Alex… our question." She said trying to break things up.

"Fine… if you must know… I'm still a little… whatever….. but all you need to know is that I'm better and I got all my emotions under control again."

"Thanks to her…" Mileena said as she looked over to the girl who had abandoned the chair she had been ordered to stay in and made her way the side of the pool.

"You're not going to turn crazy and start plotting her death because she's getting between you and me?" Alex asked, only half-mocking.

"As if I could be so childish." Mileena retorted back as she had done before. "If you wish to take care of this child then that is your wish." She said before walking out of the room, leaving the two men to themselves.

"You can't tell Aisha until I get Ryūko's father to sign her over to me." Alex said as he turned to his Beta.

"Too late, 'Eesh is already heading over here." Gat chuckled as he knew Alex was going to be getting a dose of Aisha's yelling. "Don't worry boss, I don't think she's pissed at you beatin' us having the first kid out of our little circle of friends."

"She still can't fly?" Alex asked, as when he had left for Japan Aisha was advanced in her pregnancy such that she couldn't utilize much of the advanced mobility Evolved had.

"Nah, but holy fuck is she horny. I swear I never had a problem keeping up with her until these last few months. Damn… sure glad I've got that limitless stamina now." Gat said as the two men both nodded in male understanding. Their moment of mutual masculinity was interrupted by the loud splashing noise of someone falling into the pool. They both turned their heads to see Ryūko floating at the edge of the pool.

"That's good, she knows how to swim."

* * *

"KILL IT WITH **FIRE**! LOTS AND LOTS OF **FIRE**!" Atshushi screamed as he stumbled past massive descending gate within the Church Compound. He quickly recovered and frantically ran to safety behind a line of Legionaries. All were equipped with his latest bio-weapon. Behind him two gigantic three-fingered hands forced the gate open with a metallic screech. A grotesque head roared as it tried to force itself out of the massive doorway. This was Atshushi's latest attempt at making a Blacklight Rancor, one classic-sized at sixteen feet tall. The only real difference between Atshushi's attempt at the creature and the one seen in the movies was the addition of a pair of ribbed tusks that extended down from the sides of its mouth, and the fact it had bony armor covering its body much like the Legionnaires.

"Take aim!" The Legionary captain called to the line of Blacklight soldiers once their creator passed their line, the rogue Construct still trying to push itself through the door. The Legionaries raised their new bio-weapons: Blacklight flamethrowers. Like the barb guns that they normally used, the Blacklight flamethrowers were semi-sentient creatures that attached themselves to their wielder, in this case by a series of bony claws that grasped the user's arm and back. Around the arm was a long barrel-like snout that ended in two small antennae that would occasionally spark a small amount of electricity between them. These acted as the igniter for the stream of fuel that came out of the weapon. Said fuel was a Blacklight-made biological nitroglycerin substitute, highly flammable and highly effective in what it was designed to do. " **Fire!** " The line of Legionaries did as ordered and let loose a blazing torrent onto the rogue Construct. The Blacklight Rancor roared in pain as the flames covered its body and began burning it to char.

"Oh… fuck!" Atshushi cursed as he gasped in relief while laying back against the wall. "Why does this keep happening? The Legionaries are perfectly fine, there should be no reason why these newer Constructs keep going crazy!" he yelled before continuing to watch his creations handle his latest mistake. "When we first let out that first Horror we thought the reason it went rogue was because it wasn't showing up in the Hive Mind. But, my earlier Rancor attempt also went crazy and it didn't have Limelight in it. And the only Strains that have shown the Hive Mind invisibly is Limelight, Strain 338 and Strain 581. I used neither of those in either of the Rancors. So there has to be another reason for this." The scientist's keen analytical mind went to work on this new problem.

* * *

"So, you have a kid now?" Aisha asked as she watched Alex blow dry his young ward. She had apparently tried to sneak into the pool, and when she found out that Alex wasn't able to get her out due to his weakness to water, it took a bit of convincing to get her back on land.

"Yes… her name is Ryūko Matoi… but I'm working on getting that changed. Just need her father to sign the paperwork." Alex responded casually as he kept Ryūko under control so he could get her dry. He was already feeling like crap due to Aisha giving him the "You're a moron" look that Gat was so used to by now.

"Aw, she's a quiet one isn't she?" Aisha said as she refocused her attention to the girl.

"Nah, she's a real chatterbox. She just doesn't understand a word we're saying." Alex said as he threw a towel over Ryūko. Aisha then watched as he said something in Japanese to the girl and she responded with a slight irritated tone. Alex then said something in his normal "Alex joking" way which caused the girl to look up with eager eyes. She then began to dry her hair with the provided towel as she got off the stool she had been sitting on. Aisha watched as the girl ran upstairs clearly excited.

"What did you say to her?"

"Just to get dry and ready. Then I told her that we're going to be going out so we can get some stuff for her room." The Alpha said as he walked over to the opposite couch Aisha was sitting on. "So, you're…. looking great." Alex was more hoping to weasel his way out from under a rant.

"Thank you, these last few months have been a interesting experience to say the least. Not what I expected out of pregnancy."

"No mood swings or weird cravings?" came the joking inquiry.

"Oh, there have been cravings all right…" Aisha said grimly. "Like how I suddenly get a deep urge to go out and eat some fool." She continued like she was expecting him to explain this. Alex's face simply held a look of surprise.

"Uh… and have you?" Alex asked as his mind began working to try and figure out what this might mean.

"At first I ignored it, but for the past month I've been blacking out and I'm sure that was what I was doing." Her distress at not being in full control of herself was evident.

"Okay… ah… biomass… that's got to be it. The baby needs fresh biomass and your body is responding by going on autopilot to go out and find it." Alex said, making his most educated guess. "Have Gat go the Church and get some Biomass from Atshushi. If that doesn't stop it then… I don't know."

"I was hoping you would have more than that." Aisha sighed.

"You are the first Evolved to be having a kid, this has only happened once before and even that can't exactly be compared to this." Alex said not wanting to bring up something, or more accurately _someone,_ but he felt Aisha should know all the facts.

"This is the first time I'm hearing about this. I thought me and Gat were the first to mate and only mated Evolved can have kids?"

"That's how it apparently works with the Hives and Blacklight. But not for Redlight, which is the virus that Blacklight originates from. The "perfect" Host of the Redlight virus was a woman named Elizabeth Greene, and she did have a kid. But from the memories I gathered, they terminated Pariah about two years after she had it. Apparently the thing wasn't nearly as stable as she was… and if you knew Greene then that is saying something."

"That's not going to happen to my baby." Aisha growled out in a way that would have been at home on a mother bear.

"From the memories I gathered… I have to agree with how they handled the situation." Alex didn't respond to the look of mixed hurt and fury in Aisha. "Redlight is a whole other beast compared to Blacklight. Everyone thinks that it was Blacklight that destroyed New York but it actually was a Redlight virus that hijacked various Blacklight genomes. Greene's kid was a monster, it was a born monster. Not created like Greene or me or you or any other Evolved, but born Redlight, if what's growing in you turns out to be anything but a normal baby, then it will be a Natural. Not an Evolved, but a Natural born Blacklight being." Alex looked back up to Aisha with a dark look on his face. "There are only two reason to why I haven't gutted you, one… Blacklight instincts haven't told me to do so. That means it won't be a threat to me in the Hive Mind. Two, because this is the first Blacklight Natural." Aisha was too upset with Alex for talking this way to get mad at the fact that he had not listed her and Gat's relationship to him. "If it turns out that your kid is anything like Greene's kid, then I'm taking Blackwatch's advice and killing it on the spot." Alex growled with all the power of being the Supreme Alpha he had. "I personally hope that this will end as best it can, but I will not have **anything** threaten the Hives, especially from the inside." The room was filled with a deathly sharp tension between the two. Both sides could be set on the other at slightest motion of hostility. The tension was broken at the sound of Ryūko clearing her throat announcing her presence in the room. They both looked over to see a look of confusion and concern on her face.

"You can say all that with you claiming her as your daughter. With what _she_ is?" Aisha said with a cold threat behind the words.

"Yes I can. Life isn't fair, and hypocrisy is one of the perks of being the Supreme Alpha." Alex said unabashedly as he stood up. "And again, I do personally hope that this ends with everyone as one big happy family. But I need to be realistic and know that with Blacklight, we're all fucked up. And that means fucked up shit will always be a part of our lives." He finished before walking over to Ryūko. Aisha watched as he picked her up and put her on his shoulders much to her protests, though she could tell the little girl enjoyed the attention. Aisha kept her face of thinly-concealed fury as they walked out, but it finally cracked once the door closed.

* * *

Atshushi was trying to figure out just why his newer creations were not responding as he thought they would. He was looked over the results of the testing done to each of the strains that he had used, but this was a long process as he used hundreds of strains in each Construct. Many of them he knew the ins and outs of perfectly, but the problem was that they would always react differently to every single other strain used in the creation of a Construct. It was only thanks to his genius with genetics and his eidetic memory that Atshushi was even able to possibly produce what had already in the time he had.

"It can't be 161, but… that does handle the increased… fuck… there's something I'm missing." Atshushi mumbled as he chewed the end of his pen. "Maybe 532, if I add that it might decrease aggression but the last time I used it alongside 449… no… no… 449 is far too crucial. Without it, there would no point to making the Rancor a mobile weapon platform. Maybe I could make some type of symbiotic Construct alongside the Rancor… but where would I even… fuck… this is harder than my third PhD." Atshushi continued his muttering, not even noticing that Alex had entered the lab with a child on his shoulders. "That… no… if I could… no…"

"Dude… I'm getting a little worried." Alex said trying to get Atshushi's attention but to no success. "Hey… Earth to nerd… fine… I gotta do it. Hey Atshushi, I brought rocky road ice cream!"

"What?! I get first scoop!" Atshushi yelled as his head snapped up at the mention of his favorite treat. "Wait… dammit, I told you not to do that!" He grunted as he realized how he'd been played. Then he noticed the young girl on Alex's shoulders. "Uh… Alex… explain, please."

"This is Ryūko Matoi, soon to be Ryūko Mercer. I picked her up in Japan. I need someone that can teach her how to speak English."

"And you came to me because I'm fluent bilingual. Can't you just get an Infected to handle this?"

"None of them speak Japanese, and I thought this might go faster if I have someone who speaks both. She's still young enough to learn a second language quickly."

"And what do I get out of it?"

"Dude…"

"No, I'm serious. I'm charging for this, my work on Blacklight is my orders from the Director but this… is not in the job description. So I need something from you in exchange."

"Can't I just throw money at you?" Thanks to the original Saints and the growing number of tithe-paying Saints Chapters, Alex was quickly becoming a very rich man, not yet "Saudi prince" level but still wealthy enough that solving problems with buckets of cash was a viable strategy.

"No." Atshushi said with a shit-eating grin. "You are the proverbial dealing devil, and I want more than just money."

"So what do you want?"

"Let me poke around in Mileena's brain." Atshushi said flatly, his face completely blank regarding what he had just asked.

" _What_?"

"Let me have one full hour to poke around inside the head of the only Blacklight Proto-Novus. It could give me understanding about the inner workings of the connection between all Blacklight beings, as we know that the Hive Mind works off a psychic connection rather than a biological one. Mileena as a Proto-Novus is far more deeply connected to the Psychic Plane than normal humans, and we know from your time in your coma that the Hive Mind does in fact exist in some form within the Psychic Plane, so if I can test a few things on the inner workers of a Proto that is infected with the Blacklight virus… I could possibly unlock even more understanding about just how it all works."

"And you would do this in exchange for teaching a little girl English?"

"Yes."

"No… I understand the benefits to exploring this line of research but… I gained a bit of understand while in that coma about certain things that you really don't want to play with." Alex said completely serious. "There are dangers lurking in the uncharted parts of the human mind. And while Blacklight provides a bit of protection from those dangers but you are not Blacklight… yet… so for now I don't want you anywhere near the Psychic Plane."

"Then what if you could get someone that is a bit more experienced in this thing… maybe someone from the Illuminati proper. We have talked about expanding the staff here. I'm a wiz at the Constructs and the strains but there are aspects of Blacklight that I just can't handle. The Hive Mind for one." Alex had indeed wanted to further explore the Hive Mind in a more controlled environment. And he certainly would prefer it being that way instead of stumbling onto some landmine of a new irritating instinct.

"Okay, I'll talk to…" Alex suddenly stopped talking and stared off into space. He looked at the wall to his right for a moment before taking Ryūko off his shoulders and placing her next to Atshushi. "One moment." He told both of them and then stood a little ways away from the more expensive equipment.

"Uh… Alex… explain please?" Atshushi asked once again as he watched Alex just stare at the wall, apparently waiting for something.

"A-a-a-a-any second now…" Alex mumbled as he stood in place. Suddenly, a Legionary's body smashed through the wall, flying through the air and crashing into Alex in a cloud of dust. Atshushi and Ryūko both watched as out of the smoky cloud of the ruined wall came Gat in his Viral Armor. "That wasn't very nice…" Alex grumbled sullenly as he pushed the dead Legionary off his body. "… so I'm assuming that Aisha told you about my plans for your kid if it threatens the Hive." Gat didn't respond with any words, instead barreling forward with a raised fist and a thunderous yell. Alex didn't even try to block or dodge the blow and took it point blank. Sending him flying into the wall, breaking through and crashing into the next wall with a bang.

"If you two could please take this outside…" Atshushi called out but at Gat's angry roar of irritation he quieted down. "Okay… if they hit the Strain vault though, the world is _so_ going to end." Atshushi said as he took out his remote to the Complex's security levels. He quickly flipped the switch for maximum lockdown. The lights turned off leaving only the red-tinted emergency illumination. Sirens started to blare and the doors began sliding closed. "Come on Ryūko, let's head over to the panic room until they sort everything out." Atshushi hurriedly said in Japanese as he shepherded the young girl out of the room.

"Gat! This is nothing against you or Aisha, I'd do it to anyone! You have no idea what kind of monster Blackwatch was dealing wi…" His best friend delivered another bone-shattering punch to his face, interrupting his attempt at explaining himself. This time his head exploded in a shower of gore. "… fuck… I don't know which hurts more… admitting Blackwatch was right on something or your right hook." Alex said quietly as his skull reformed. "Atshushi! You and Ryūko safe y-" Another uppercut stopped Alex's question.

"Yup! We're safe in the panic room. But… uh… this thing wasn't meant to have two people in it. We're not going to last very long so could the two of you hurry this up." Atshushi said anxiously over the Complex's intercom.

"Fine by me..." Alex grumbled as once again his head reformed. Gat lunged for another hit but this time Alex lashed out and grabbed his fist before he could blink. As the Asian Beta was singlehandedly forced to his knees, any illusions he had of beating his boss evaporated. "Atshushi… you were in Blackwatch… explain Pariah to Gat. Please." There was no response at first but eventually Atshushi did speak again.

"Uh… c-can I please not… I mean… I-I-I still have nightmares a-about that… that..." Terror bled into Atshushi's voice. "Listen Alex… I-I did lots of testing already. We aren't... we won't have… we just aren't. I made sure, real sure. Aisha's kid is not going… please don't make me talk about it." His voice was no longer that of a aloof scientist, but a shivering child reliving his worst nightmare.

"Do you hear the panic in his voice… that pure, undiluted terror of what a natural-born Redlight being means to him? A man that saw the horrors that Blacklight can create, and gets a stiffy when he thinks about making worse ones, hear how horrified he is to even remember the _name_ of that thing? **That**! Is why I am so serious about this. **That**! Is why I will have no issue killing anything like that abomination!"

The intercom came to life again. "A-Alex… it won't be… it won't be like that. I have been doing tests with Aisha for that very reason." Atshushi said trying to deescalate the situation. "Gat and Aisha's kid will be a Viral, but I compared the tests with the ones done on Greene during her pregnancy. That… it had substantial damages and mutation to its brain, mostly to the parts that dealt with emotion and empathy. The entire amygdala of… that… it was entirely misshapen. Everything that I am currently seeing in Aisha's baby… it's not that Alex." With that, Gat's fist was released. The Beta's arm numbly fell to his side, and he remained kneeling on the floor of the lab.

"I'm still going to handle this as the Supreme Alpha first and friend second." Alex said before walking away from the man deciding that it would be best if they didn't see each other for a while.

* * *

Ragyo was once again trying to find a way to deal with the exasperating pest that was the final Blacklight Horror. It had been three months now and still it vexed her. She had personally gone to find it in her domain and yet nothing had come of it.

" _As much as I detest the thought… Avarice was correct… theses pests are a 'bitch' to clean out._ " Ragyo thought privately to herself, ever the picture of corporate leadership as she looked over a blueprint of her headquarters. She had begun sealing off sections of her building to try and fence the beast but it continued to evade her. This one pest was even beginning to affect her long-term plans with all the delays it was causing to the production and distribution of Life Fibers for her clothing factories.

Her thoughts and plans were interrupted at the sound of the elevator to her office opening. She frowned as she knew of no appointments for the day. She looked up and to her surprise Hoomaru was escorting a sharply-dressed man over, what astonished her the most was the small creature coiling its bladed body against her assistant's neck. It was clearly Blacklight in nature. The man she was escorting didn't feel like how Avarice or Dane felt, so she was assuming this interloper himself wasn't Blacklight.

"Lady Ragyo… may I introduce Dex Jackson. He wishes to speak with you concerning Blacklight." Hoomaru said as the creature slithered away and coiled around the man's arm.

"I see… and just **_what_** do the hives have to say to me. You wish to throw salt into the wounds that your little vermin have inflicted?" Ragyo growled but was met with a blank face. This newcomer was clearly unintimidated, but not overly cocky like how Avarice had been.

"I am not part of Alex's hives. I have left them behind, and I'm seeking new employment, _your_ employment. But honestly I wasn't expecting you to know about Blacklight. I came here because you are Ultor's competition, not because of any other connection." He said, his face remaining passive but there were hints of surprise and a small bit of excitement. Ragyo liked where this was going.

"You have a history with those pestilential beasts then?"

"You could say that… they both ruined my life and gave me everything I could ever want."

"I see, but you said you didn't know about Blacklight being here. You came because we fight Ultor, and if I'm correct… Dex Jackson is the current Ultor Executive in charge of Internal Security for Ultor. Is this an act of corporate betrayal?"

"Yes, Ultor is now under the control of Alex Mercer who also rules the Third Street Saints, and the Blacklight Hives. With those three, he's posed to take over the world. It's only a matter of time in my opinion." He shrugged before looking down at the spools of glowing Life Fibers Ragyo had on her desk. "... unless the rumors at Ultor are true and Revocs really does have a secret sauce in its products."

"Exactly what are you offering?" Ragyo asked leaning forward.

"Information, and as a show of good faith… here's the location of the secret Akuji clan compound." Dex said as he handed a flash drive to Hoomaru. Ragyo arched a delicately-shaped eyebrow at this, that was a piece of information that had eluded her from quite some time. Only members of the Yakuza leader's family were privy to such knowledge, and its destruction would be another nail in the coffin of her opposition here at home.

"So… do we have a deal?"

* * *

Author's Notes

Hey-o back with another chapter. Just want to tell you all that I have a poll up for the Viral Saints Halloween special on what costume you want me to have Alex have. You can find the poll on my profile page.

Reviews

helkil - not that soon and Alex is a total harem guy. No one can tie that guy down... maybe... who knows... plans in the works maybe?

IAmPedobear - NEW CHAPTER. thank you for your support it seriously means a lot to me.

pedofaria339 - you should... its really good.

Xalimech - thank you... I hoped it would do that. I always feel like I might not be able to pull stuff like that off.

Legonnas - yes... yes they are.

rmarcon321 - we will see... but its the Saints... they handle shit good.


	39. Sons of Anarchy Spin Off Preview

Author's notes. I have only seen the first few episodes of Sons of Anarchy and read a few pages on the wiki. I am not as big of a fan as I am for Dexter or Watch_Dogs so the quality of this might be a little off. If anyone wants to actually do this spin-off for me who is in fact a fan of SOA then PM me and we can talk. As I much rather prefer someone who knows the content to do it. Just know that I expect the story to be at least 100k words but that's the bare minimum. It can end right after that mark.

* * *

Maero

Hellhounds of Heaven

Clay Morrow was a man that knew he had the best life he could get. Loving wife and family, good friends, and a successful business… if a bit illegal, on the side. He was the current acting president of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle club Redwood Originals, often called Sam Crow. Everything was, at the moment, going perfectly fine. His biggest issue was his son-in-law's junkie bitch of an ex-wife. Still, it wasn't his problem until Jax brought it to him, which personally Clay hoped he would sooner rather than later.

That had been the case, until he arrived at his club's automotive shop where he was told that the warehouse they used to store and assemble guns had been burned down. He hoped to whatever god was listening that some of the guns there were still remotely salvageable, as they were a linchpin in a deal with the 'Niners. If Sam Crow didn't deliver those guns to them then things would be getting messy real fast.

But as he pulled into the lot with the inner circle of the club in tow he could tell that the idea of salvage was a dead one. The whole warehouse had been torched to a crisp. He scowled at the thought of explaining things to Leroy.

"What the hell happened?" Clay asked as he approached the club's contact in the sheriff's office Vic Trammel. Everything was looking worse and worse the closer Clay got to the ruined building.

"Propane tanks caught fire. Ammo that was in there blew." Vic answered, looking equally concerned as this was also a problem that he didn't want. For slightly different reasons, but close enough as he also had a stake in the guns.

"Shit." Clay cursed as he looked around, noting a strange pattern in the surrounding dirt.

"Yeah, fire dick says it was arson." Vic added while Clay continued to look down at the ground noting the sheer amount of boot prints. Way too many, and only half of them were the right kind for who he was thinking caused this. Then he started picking up on something else, there were spent casings all around the ruins and the lot… in the burnt-out wreck he understood… but the amount of shell casings in the lot made him think there might have been a firefight or something. "I see that you noticed all the fuckin' tracks. Lot of boot prints."

"Cowboy boots?" Club secretary Bobby asked as they approached the ruined warehouse.

"Only half of them are… the rest… those are military grade combat boots." Clay said aloud as he circled the charred structure. "Something happened last night…"

"So we got shit-eating Mayans and some fuckin' paramilitary fuckers taking shots at each other while on our lot? The fuck is going on?" The club's sergeant at arms Tig complained as he followed Clay.

"Where the hell was Rodrigo durin' all this?" Jax, Clay's son in law and club vice president asked as they took in the destruction. "And there ain't any bodies. If some fight happened then who ever won took 'em with them."

"Not all of them." Vic said with a little bit of annoyance. Clay took a moment and then turned back to the man.

"What?" Clay asked not happy at the prospect of there being bodies on his property. Vic nodded to a small hatch nearby and moved to open it. Inside there were two bodies, two females one looking to a mother and the other a daughter. "Damn… fried and refried."

"They're illegals… part of our assembly crew." Tig explained as they all stared at the corpses.

"We found them before the F. D. went through." Vic said, Clay was at least happy that this problem could be handled quietly.

"And the M4s… what about them?" Clay said as Vic shut the hatch to the bodies.

"Gone… with most of the Glocks." It was one thing if they were destroyed. It was a whole other thing if they had been stolen. Clay then took his frustration out on nearby fallen window.

"Get the firemen on board. We don't need this shit getting on A.T.F.'s radar." Jax said as he handed Vic a few hundred dollars' worth of bills. "How are we on exposure?" Jax said before Vic had a chance to make the bribes. "Both officially and unofficially."

"Officially… just me and the fire department. And with a little talking…" Vic wiggled the wad of cash in his hand. "… the fire captain can be convinced to change his report. Unofficially… this blast was seen by two counties. This location is dead." Vic said before heading off to make the bribes leaving the Sam Crow members to talk among themselves.

"Something happened here on our shit and we need to find out what." Clay said as he rubbed his forehead trying to relieve some of the building stress.

"Mayans were a part of it… that's for damn sure." Bobby said looking back to the hatch with the bodies in it. "The paramilitary might be the Nords… skinheads like them like that kind of shit."

"Yeah… maybe… or maybe someone new is in Charming." Clay said as he noticed something banded on a nearby telephone pole. They all walked over to the pole and saw what looked to be a wolf's head with its jaws open and Fleur-de-lis in its mouth. "Any of you guys seen this before." Clay said looking back to the other Sam Crow members.

"The wolf's head is new but I've seen the thing in the middle on TV and online a bunch of times." Bobby pointed out. "Part of a new brand from Ultor, that clothing company. Called the Saints. Some gangbangers gone legit and turning their story into merchandizing rights."

"Well maybe they aren't as legit as they seem." Clay quipped back not sounding too thrilled at the prospect of some offshoot of any gang coming into Charming. If they fought with the Mayans then why, were they at war with them or were they trying to steal the same guns. "Tell Vic to set up a meeting with the Niners on the gang hotline. We need to see if they can wait a few days before getting those guns. If we do have some new faces in Charming then we'll deal with it."

* * *

Maero was currently going through the guns that they had taken off the local biker gang. They were decent, he'd had better. Stealing the guns wasn't really on his mind when he showed up at the warehouse. He was more interested in taking out the Mayans. Their leader had made the mistake of declining their offer of annexation. So now they were going to fuck with the Mayans until Maero had enough and destroyed them entirely. He had no real use for them and none of them seemed anything more than thugs only concerned with themselves, not Saints material.

"Ooh… shiny guns…" Maero looked up and saw his second Beta Jackal walking over with a manic grin and a glint in his eyes at the sight of the cases of M4s. "Can I play with 'em boss… please?"

"No, these are to be returned to the Sons of Anarchy as a goodwill present. Hopefully this will be enough to get them to let us set up shop here in Charming while we get to work." Maero said as he returned the gun he had been holding back into the create. Jackal had always been the unhinged one of his Hive, but he was loyal and listen to orders even if he tried to find ways to do things his way within said orders.

"Sure boss… I'll get them back to them." Jackal said with a smile that made Maero glad that he had Alpha sight. Jackal quickly buckled under the pressure Maero put over him in the Hive Mind.

"No you won't, Jess will be the one to return these guns to the Sons. You make sure that the boys get to work setting up camp. Have Dongles get the funds ready for bribes and start doing some recon on who's who in Charming." Jackal did a shaky yet gleeful salute and went off to do just that.

"He's always so excitable." Maero look behind him and saw his Mate Jessica, the love of his life and reason why he was able to handle all the messed up shit his life could bring. She stood by him from founding the Brotherhood, the fall of the same gang, to becoming immortal living viruses.

"He's good at what he does and he's easy to direct. All we need to do is point at something and 'say wouldn't it be nice if that was on fire.' " Maero joked as Jessica walked over to his side. "So have you heard anything on this town?"

"This Sam Crow, it's the mother chapter of the Sons of Anarchy biker gang, third only to the Outlaws and Hell's Angels in terms of power. Currently as a whole the Biker Club isn't at war with anyone but things have been getting tense everywhere. Here in Charming there are a few people encroaching on their territory. These guys really don't like that."

"We didn't appreciate when outsiders started to invade Stilwater. Let's just hope that we can convince them to fold and drop their flags… or patches. I always prefer the standing locals over finding new ones to rule."

"It's possible… from the memories of the two locals I consumed I found that they really love this town and will fight to protect it. But that means if we can demoralize them enough and bring submission to the table, they'd eat that shit up in a heartbeat."

* * *

Jax was not having the best of days. The whole warehouse thing and the news that both the Mayans and some new crew was breathing down Charming's neck had just about everyone in the club in a bad mood. Not only that but his ex-wife hadn't sent him the doctor bills in months, and he was the child's father and he was going to contribute whether the bitch liked it or not. The sight of a deer jammed through the front windshield of a car did however bringing a smile to his face.

"Sometimes you're the Beamer… and sometimes you're the goddamn deer." He joked as he approached the car. The deer in question was half way in through the windshield, ass end out.

"Some yuppie creamed her up at the streams." Club member Chibs told Jax as the vice president walked up to the car, his Scottish accent clear in his voice.

"He run into it or hit a tree while it was giving him head?" Jax joked as the position of the deer was a great joke filled area.

"The hell you want me to get it out of there?" Prospect Kip Epps, nick named Half-sack, asked as he looked over the bloody dead animal. Jax just smiled as he knew that he was going to enjoy this. Jax walked around to a hatch in the tow truck that had brought in the car. He pulled out a chainsaw and handed it over to Half-sack. "Oh come on. Jesus, man."

"Just pretend it's 'carve your own steak' night at Sizzler." Jax said with a smile as he was indeed greatly having fun with this.

"I… uh… I don't eat meat." That made this even funnier to Jax.

"Figure it out, grunt." Jax said as he put a cigarette in his mouth. Half-sack sighed and went to do his job while Jax and Chibs went to discuss the new developments.

"What the hell happened?"

"Either the Mayans or some new crew torched the warehouse. All we know is that both sides don't like each other by the looks of things." Jax informed him as the two walked away from the deer crashed car. "And who ever won stole the Niners' M4s." Jax added on to the list of problems.

"Holy shit."

"Clay's gone to sit down with Leroy, try and buy some time."

"Niners already paid for that hardware." Chibs said clearly upset over this and the potential fallout from this bad deal they found themselves in.

"That's the tricky part…" Jax said as he took out his ringing phone. "… hey Ma." Jax said as he answered the call."

"Did you go to storage?" His mother, Gemma Teller Morrow, asked over the phone as she drove.

"Not yet." They were talking about an old storage unit their family had that kept a bunch of their old junk including everything from when Jax was a baby and young child.

"Well, if there's something you can use… I haven't looked though that baby stuff in years."

"I'm sure anything… will… help…" Jax said though his words slowed as he watched with Chibs as three purple and white trucks came driving into their lot.

"What's up?" Gemma asked as she could tell that something was happening on her son's end.

"Some huge ass trucks are coming in… don't recognize them. I got to go but could you check up on my crazy ex-wife, she hasn't been answering her phone." Jax said as he eyed the newcomers along with the rest of the club currently at the shop. The three trucks parked and out of the lead one stepped out a smoking-hot biker chick with long red hair and cold calculating eyes.

"That's because she knows it's you calling. Be safe and I'll check on her." Jax heard his mother say before hanging up. He put his phone away in his pocket as he and Chibs approached the biker chick.

"And what can Teller-Morrow automotive do for you gentlemen and lady today?" Chibs said he and Jax walked up to the newcomers.

"Nothing, but we've come to talk to Sam Crow. We have a little something of theirs to give back." The woman said as one of her men dropped a large crate in front of Jax and Chibs. She kicked the top off and revealed the stolen M4s, all in perfect condition. "Just a little good faith gift from the Hellhounds of Heaven." Jax and Chibs looked at each other clearly not expecting this. Jax leaned down and took one of the M4s and looked it over.

"Yeah… this is our shit." Jax said as he put the M4 back into the create and then looked back at the woman. "Care to tell us what happened to our warehouse?" The woman gave a slight smile that put both men on edge.

"We didn't do that, the Mayans had already torched the place by the time we got there."

"And why were you there in the first place?"

"We had offered the Mayans a very favorable deal and they shot us down. We wanted to make the point that you don't do that, not without facing a punishment." She said and once again both men got a very bad feeling from the woman. "We killed them and took what they stole. We were always going to return it to you guys, we don't need the fire power as we have much better shit."

"Could'a kept it and sold it off?" Jax shrugged at the idea that they were doing this out of the kindness of their heart. He could tell just by the look of the woman and the words she used that this crew she was a part of wasn't the kind to do things needlessly.

"We really don't need the money." She chuckled at the idea. "We have tithe paying chapters all over the country. The Hellhounds are just one of the three major daughter chapters of the Saints. Means we have all the money we could ever need. So returning these guns is a much bigger gain in the form of improving relations." Everything that the woman had just said screamed into Jax and Chibs as one thing and one thing only: We are here to take over.

"Well thanks… really… but now that you're done we would really appreciate it if you could take your trucks and get out of Charming." Jax said with equal politeness and threat in his voice.

"Sorry, but we aren't done with the Mayans yet. Not only that but we need to speak with Sam Crow concerning further relations between the Sons nation and the Saints chapters as a whole. So if you could pass along word to Clay Morrow and tell him that we would like to speak with him, that would be great. You can find us at the trailer park just outside of North Charming."

"There isn't a trailer park there." Jax said but he had a feeling of what she would say to that.

"There is now."

* * *

Clay was extremely conflicted over the current news of these Hellhounds of Heaven. He actually would very much prefer the Mayans stealing their guns and Sam Crow having to steal them back. Better than what sounded like a very aggressive arm of an up and coming crime syndicate giving them their guns back but at the same time implying that the second the Mayans were out of the picture Sam Crow and the Sons as a whole were next.

At the moment him and the rest of the club were around the Table as they always did when presented with issues that affected the whole group. Right now they were discussing the news of the Hellhounds showing up on their doorstep.

"Juice… what have you found out about these guys?" Clay asked their information and hacking officer Juice.

"They got around three hundred members at all times. They roam around in one big traveling convoy. Centered around a semi-truck that acts as a mobile headquarters. They take over motels and set up big-ass camps when they stop anywhere."

"Just like what they're doing outside of Charming." Jax sighed as he remembered what that woman said.

"Who leads them?" Clay asked and Juice pulled out some mugshot photos.

"They are lead by a huge-ass dude named Maero, and when I say huge… I mean huge." Juice said as Maero's picture was passed over to Clay. "This dude has been shot, set on fire, even poisoned, and nothing. And from what I was able to learn… his whole crew is loyal to the point of taking a bullet for him "

"What about the chick that gave back our guns?" Jax said as he turned back to Juice.

"She's Maero's girlfriend, Jessica Parish. Rich girl that fell in love with the toughguy gangbanger. She's clean on the records but I'd bet anything on that being bullshit. I did find that her family is offering ton of cash for anyone willing to bring her back to them."

"Anyone else that we need to know about?" Chibs asked.

"Two, there's Johnny 'Jackal' Byers and Samuel Mooney. Byers is the crew's attack dog, guy has a record filled with arson and getting caught with explosive material, then a shit ton of assault. Mooney is their… I have no fucking clue. Because neither do the feds, dude is a walking conspiracy theory." Clay sighed at this again. All of this was sounding like a massive pain.

"This doesn't sound good… and you say that the chick that dropped off the M4s said they were just the daughter chapter right?" Clay asked as he turned back to Jax.

"That's right, one of three major ones so that means there's others. But they called the parent crew the Saints." Jax answered.

"The Saints are a street gang based out of Stilwater Michigan. Apparently they signed a branding deal with the clothing company Ultor shortly after clearing out Stilwater." Juice said as he had already done a quick search on the subject.

"Send word to all of our brothers across the country and even to the ones across the Atlantic, a huge shitstorm might be coming, and we might be needing some help, I don't care if we need to pull every favor or threat we can make but these Saints aren't getting Charming." Clay said as he slammed his fist down on the table. "Charming is ours, that's a fact and it ain't changing. Now… I want the whole club with me when I go see Maero. I personally don't… think this is a trap given that they were so nice about the guns. But, I ain't getting a bullet in my head because some mountain of a bastard acted a little nice." At that everyone began clearing the table. Clay and Jax moved over to the bar to talk privately. "So… what's your take on Maero's girl?"

"She'll cut you if she can… somethin' was just not right about her. Her and her crew. The guys that she brought to unload the guns, they were too quiet. Only ever spoke to each other and from what I saw only three times the whole afternoon. They all just gave me the…" They stopped talking as they looked up to the security camera screens showing Gemma's car entering the lot with the horn going off.

"Oh shit… now what?"

* * *

Jax was terrified, a running theme of the last few days but now he really felt it. Before it was more like he was worried with dread mixed in to keep him on edge. But now, with the news that his son was on critical life support after having to be given an emergency C-section due to his junkie ex-wife using while pregnant. Everything around him was blurry, all he could do was race to the hospital where they were keeping both of them. He knew that the club was behind him but just didn't really notice them all that much.

"… Nords dealing out of the dog again." That he caught Clay saying as the approached his ex's room. Jax banked that for later when he would teach the son of a bitch who caused this a lesson.

"Darby got out of Chino two weeks ago." Bobby said as he, Clay, Gemma, and Chibs walked behind Jax through the hospital.

"Yeah, well, call that Nazi prick and set a meeting." Clay ordered as the group approached the room that housed Wendy Teller, Jax's ex-wife. Jax calmed down a little at the sight of his old girlfriend Tara Knowles and current doctor at the Charming hospital.

"What the hell happened?" Jax asked as Tara closed the door behind her.

"When was the last time you saw her." Tara said clearly with something important to say.

"Couple of weeks."

"Her hands and feet were full of tracks. Toxicology reports aren't back yet, but it's most likely crank." Tara informed Jax and he looked back at Wendy through the glass door. She knew that he was far more concerned about the baby than her.

"The baby?"

"We had to do an emergency C-section. He's ten weeks premature."

'Oh shit…"

"Come on, let's sit down and I'll walk you through it."

"Just tell me."

"He's got a congenital heart defect and gastroschisis… a tear in his abdomen. The gastro and the early birth are from the drugs but the C.H.D, is probably…"

"The family flaw." Gemma answered.

"Yes… it's probably genetic. Either one would be serious but not life threatening. However the two of them together… Dr. Namid gives him a twenty percent chance… and… I'm pretty sure he's being optimistic."

"Oh my god." Gemma mumbled concerned for her grandson.

"She never wanted to talk to me…" Jax said trying explain to himself that he could have done something if he had known. "… I didn't know."

"Her O.B. said that she missed her last three appointments. No one knew." Tara said trying to give Jax some reassurance. "Dr. Namid wants to fix his belly first. The if he stabilizes he'll go in and try to repair the heart. I'm sorry Jax." She said giving a moment before continuing. "I can take you to see him now." She said before starting off to show him the way.

"Tara..." Jax said as he followed her but the two stopped at the door. "… you don't have to do this. I'm sure you got other patients."

"I asked Dr. Namid if I could assist. I want to help your son."

"… his name is Abel."

"It's a good name." She said as she knew that Jax would be leaving. And he did, with a look in his eyes saying he was about to do something violent and reckless. "Jax?" Tara called out but she knew that he wouldn't listen now.

"Jackson?" His mother called but he also didn't listen.

"Go with Tara, I got something to do." Jax said as he looked back for a moment, Clay saw that look in Jax's eye and knew just what he was going to do. The older man then turned to Bobby and Chibs knowing that Jax was going to to do something very stupid.

"Watch his back." Clay ordered as he went with Gemma to see Abel while the two Sam Crow members followed Jax outside to their bikes. Clay and Gemma followed Tara to where they were holding Abel and looked on with concern for the child, it was so small and clearly not healthy. Both of them were so wrapped up in their concern that they never noticed that they were being watched by a man wearing a face not his own.

* * *

Clay walked through the Hellhound camp a bit uneased by it all. He understood what Jax was saying about something feeling off about these guys. On the surface it looked like one of Sam Crow's parties spread out over the camp, people BBQing and having a good time, but there was a bluntness to it all that Clay just couldn't describe. Something felt just slightly less than normal to it all. Not only that but he and his club were getting strange looks from everyone they passed. Some pairs of eyes even seemed to have been looking towards them before they came into view, but that was impossible.

"You know… up until today I thought Tig was a pretty creepy bastard… but looking around here… I think you're pretty damn normal." Bobby said as he turned back to Tig. The whole of the Hellhounds all looked like some freak show, all were covered in various tattoos and piercings.

"Gee thanks…" Tig grumbled as the Sam Crow members continued to eye the surrounding men and women for any sign of hostilely.

"Quiet. Let's just get through this." Clay said still very concerned over this, when he saw this camp he only saw it as a preparation for an invasion force. Not only that but Jax's kid still hung around in his mind. They all approached the semi-truck that stood in the center of the of the camp. Sitting on the edge of the door to the back was Jessica and standing next to her was who Sam Crow assumed was Maero given his towering size.

"Good, you all came." Maero said as he moved away and approached them. His voice deep and calm but it was clear that it could become booming in a second. "Let me state right away that the Hellhounds have no interest in taking Charming for our own." Maero said hitting their worries and concerns on the head. "All we want is to destroy the Mayan Biker gang for what they did. That, and set a formal relationship between the Sons nation and the Saints."

"And then you'll leave." Clay said with a slight scowl on his face. Until he heard it he wasn't going to let it go.

"Then we will leave." Maero said with a small grin as he understood that this man would defend his home until his last breath.

"Good… so you want the Mayans dead? Why… what did they do to you?"

"They killed a few of my boys… I don't' take that too kindly." Maero growled. "This is a brotherhood, and when you kill one of us then we all feel it. We will respond with the full force of what we can bring." The level of anger that Maero showed for anyone that dared to harm his own impressed Clay and put the rest of Sam Crow on edge.

"And after that… exactly what type of relationship are you wanting out of our working together?" Clay asked as this was the heart of his issues.

"Drawing borders essentially. We want to understand just where the Sons' are and know exactly what kind of business we can do with you." Maero explained as he walked back over to a chair waiting for him. "Mostly selling you the Saints' brand drug, Unholy Light. It's a clean drug, pot based and hasn't had an OD yet. It can get addictive, but only on heavy users, but as I said, doesn't kill. We also have a stake in the gun running business, I know Sam Crow does as well and we might be able to share customers and supply each other if necessary. What do you think?" Maero said leaning back in his chair. Clay took a bit, thinking it over before saying anything.

"First… let's take down the Mayans, also… if any deal is going to go through, you need to help us put pressure down on the Nords. Local skinheads that are starting to sell crank in Charming."

"Deal… extreme hate is bad for business anyways." Maero said not giving the issue a second thought.

"And second, the deal with the guns we can talk about but the Drugs… not happening. We keep Charming clean, don't care how Clean you think your shit is." Clay said with clearly no argument in his tone. Maero clicked his tongue as he looked off to the side, thinking this new development over.

"Okay… your town your rules. All I ask is that you keep a more open mind on this matter in the future. But for right now we have a deal." He looked over to Jessica and she nodded to a few of the Hellhound boys who brought over a crate. "Another gift to Sam Crow, fresh off the line, two AR-50 XMAC rifles." At that the bikers' eyes went wide at the gift of space age shit level hardware. Clay nodded to Tig and Chibs who both went to open the create and found the two highly coveted rifles waiting inside.

"Damn… I've only ever heard about these puppies…" Chibs said in awe as he pulled one of them out.

"They're legit… even got the comfort grips." Tig said as he checked his own over.

"I hope that you enjoy them, and remember that if things continue to go well with our relationship you'll be seeing more where these came from." Clay looked at the two guns and had a bad feeling that regardless of whether the relationship with the Hellhounds was good or not they would be seeing more of these guns.

"Let's head out." Clay said as he started walking back with the rest of Sam Crow following behind. Maero and Jessica just watched as the bikers rode away back to their town of Charming.

"Baby… why did you let them leave? Wasn't the plan to show them just how outclassed they really are? But you just played nice and even gave them some of our personal toys." Jessica questioned though it was out of simple curiosity.

"Because Moony found a way in that would be perfect for us rather than just putting the fear of the Hives in them. Gratitude is always the best collar." Maero smiled as he knew that his third Beta's plan was currently being executed.

* * *

Jax looked down at his son, the pale sick child was struggling to breathe. It broke the biker's heart to see his newborn son, his blood, like this. The doctors were trying everything they could but every time he asked how Abel was doing, they just tried their best to avoid answering the question and faked finding something to do.

"He's going to die you know." Jax looked back as a doctor entered the room. Jax didn't recognize the man but he was wearing doctor scrubs so he just assumed. He did note that he was carrying a carbon fiber suitcase that didn't look like one a doctor would have. "Tara told you that twenty percent chance was optimistic… more like delusional. Two percent is better if one was really being optimistic." The man's words hit Jax like a semi-truck.

"Is there… there has to be something? Some new treatment or something experimental or some shit… anything?"

"Well… you could always make a deal with the devil, sell your soul… about all you have left." The man said as he walked around Jax and to the other side of the case that housed Abel. He placed the suitcase down on a nearby table, Jax couldn't see what was inside though.

"I'd take that if I could… anything to save him." Jax said as he looked mournfully down at his son. The man just smiled and pulled out a small black vial from the suitcase. He pulled out a syringe and drew a single drop of the liquid inside before looking back to Jax.

"You truly would… you really are the type of man to make a deal with the devil to save his own son." The man remarked as he injected the black liquid into Abel's IV. "And so the devil will take your soul in payment." Dazed as he was, Jax didn't fully hear what was being said as he watched as the black liquid crawl like a living creature through the IV and into his son. Jax watched in both horror and hope as his son was swarmed in black and red tendrils, the tear in his stomach healing before his eyes and his son's breathing easing to a normal level.

"Wha… what did you just do?" He said looking up at the man who now was wearing a classy business suit colored in purple and red.

"I healed your son… wasn't that hard. He'll be a little unresponsive for a few days but that's just the Blacklight in his system burning itself out. Make sure to keep him well-hydrated. The doctors will be scared and concerned that he'll be nearing the end but know that it will pass."

"Blacklight… you mean that shit that destroyed New York?!" Jax said suddenly very concerned that his son was going to mutate into some zombie. "What the fuck did you…" He stopped at the sight of two bladed fingers shooting over the case and stopping millimeters from his neck.

"Don't insult me. I did what I promised to do. Your son will have been healed and the Blacklight in his system is preprogrammed for rapid genetic senescence. He will be clean in a few days. You however… you will not be so." The man said while keeping his clawed hand trained on Jax's neck before pulling out a strange-looking apple from the suitcase. "The Blacklight Hives have saved your child, and now you owe us a life in exchange. One hundred years of life in service to Maero's Hive, and then you're free to spend the rest of your existence however you see fit." He said as he held out the apple. "Eat this and you will become an immortal viral being, an Evolved Noble. This is your debt to the devil. If you fail in your payment then your son's life is forfeit.' He said as a black barbed tendril extended out from his back and slithered down to the case holding Abel. It pierced through the glass as if it wasn't there and hung over the child's neck. Jax looked from Abel to the man and then to the apple.

"Don't really have much choice do I?" He said as he numbly took the apple.

"I didn't take your choice away from you… your desperation did." The man said flatly before pulling both his claw and tendril away from Jax and Abel respectively. Jax looked at the strange apple for a moment and then back to Abel one last time before taking a bite. The second he broke the translucent casing the black liquid inside shot out and attached itself to his face, invading any opening it could find. Jax fell back down to the ground screaming in pain as the Blacklight in his body destroyed and rebuilt him cell by cell. "Welcome to life as a devil, brother."

* * *

Author's notes

So there we have Maero in Charming. I will once again say that I have not watched the entire Sons of Anarchy show. watched half of the first season and read up on the wiki a bit. So it will be unlikely that I will be doing the spin off for this one real soon. Still wanted to give you guys some idea.

Second, the poll for Alex's Halloween costume is still up. please go and vote.

Reviews

Helkil - hehehe... yeah... okay... i'm going to respond to that with this. Combined what you just said... with... this hint... Game of Thrones... figure it out. put those two things together, your review and what you said in it... and Game of Thrones... oh... I am one fucked up dude. But then again, that's par the course for this story.

Rmarcano321 - yup... yup... Blacklight just makes everything more crazy. And yes... Dex is still hanging around. Couldn't let him go and fade into nothing as Dane's Evolved.

IAmPedobear - thank you, keeping people in character is important for me but I so is character progression. THe idea of Alex become a father is a key development for him. it will a be a slightly short lived given the time skip I have planned but... eh... it will all work in the end.

Reads too Much - I have developed the Naturals in a way that doesn't make then so OP that shit will hit the fan too hard. They will be a interesting development for the Hives.

Xalimech - things are happening, the third act of the story is shaping and the spin offs are coming.

LORD DESTRYUK - damn... should have remembered that. Maybe someone else in the Hives.

Evolution - yes... but again that's a choice that no parent should have to make. This is his child and the idea of Alex coming in and killing it for what it might turn out like... heavy stuff.


	40. Delivery

Atshushi was a bit on edge. He always was when Aisha came in for her regular test on her unborn child. In the last few months both Gat and Aisha had self-exiled themselves from the Hives and the Saints. She still came to the Church Compound because she was still getting the examinations that needed to be done. It was these exams that kept Alex from getting paranoid about the child. Everything in the Hive was still very off, each member was on edge and everyone involved was hoping that Aisha would give birth soon so that this could all end. Hopefully, it would be a happy one.

"Just lay still and… oh you know the drill by now." Atshushi said as he started the ultrasound. After that he remained quiet as he was very much terrified of the expecting mother. It was no secret that Atshushi was Alex's little buddy and so it was seen that he was firmly on Alex's side. Not that there was any real sides, but Atshushi was on Alex's. "It looks like that last time's theory is correct… he is getting a bit bigger than normal human children do at this stage. I'm thinking that he might be ready two months early."

"Is that safe, it won't harm him right?" Aisha asked clearly concerned.

"I've already determined that he is a viral being… physically he'll be perfect. I could drop him out a window and he'd be fi-… please don't hit me for that I'm just making a point." Atshushi quickly stammered as he could feel the anger coming off the expecting mother. "Eh, anyway, internally I'm not seeing anything wrong, his skin is a bit… off… certainly not normal human texture. The facial structure is suggesting that the mouth might be a bit more in the lines of how your Viral Armor form is, large and from ear to ear. But other than that… perfectly normal. Which all things considering is about as normal as we can hope for." Atshushi sighed as he finished up the test.

"That's good to hear."

"Has your son appeared in the Hive Mind yet?" Atshushi said as he took a clipboard and began jotting down notes.

"In a way… he's something like a small addition to me and Gat."

"I see… I would highly recommended that you watch that carefully. We don't know if your son might try to steal some of your memories or invade your mind or something. So many things are an unknown at this point and we can't be too cautious."

"You're starting to sound like Alex." Aisha growled and Atshushi abruptly stopped writing. He then got up and walked out of the room. Aisha decided that she might have scared him off and started getting ready to leave but when she went for the door it wouldn't open. "What… hey! You can't just lock me in here!"

"Aisha…" She looked over to the intercom panel where Atshushi's voice was coming from. "… I am currently in the panic room. A room designed to keep Blacklight and Evolved out. I am safe. ALEX IS RIGHT TO BE SO EXTREME IN THIS... MESS!" Atshushi roared through the safety of the intercom. "You have not _seen_ the memories of the Blackwatch soldiers and scientists that knew about… Pariah." Atshushi said, the last word whispered in the deepest fear Aisha had ever heard anyone ever use.

"How can you say that?! This is a child, _my_ child and I cannot understand how Alex could even think that it could be so dangerous to even think about killing it right out of birth! All because some other natural born viral being was so scary."

"It needed to be killed by gods." Atshushi said flatly and fearfully. "Pariah… that thing… it… it needed to be killed by the Illuminati's zero squad. Those are the beings about whom you could very easily make an argument that they _are_ gods. I didn't fully know what they were when I worked at Blackwatch and only really found out when Mileena explained it a few years ago. But… I heard what happened… that… that that thing needed to be killed by gods. _Greene's_ child was born in the summer of 1986… it grew to the biological age of six in the span of three months. In both physical and mental terms it was a six year old child in three months' worth of living. Then it stayed that way… for twenty years."

"Alex said they killed it after two years."

"He's wrong, the memories he has on the subject were of people that didn't know the truth. They had been told lies and false reports on it. Either that or they were subject to a memory wipe and told something different. Only the highest of Blackwatch were allowed to know… _I_ only know because the researchers were allowed to research the samples and bits and pieces we still had. And the ONLY reason we were even allowed to know that much… was because it was _after_ that thing had died." Atshushi sighed, as if reassured, before continuing. "For twenty years it played the part of a small child… all the time watching, waiting… and nothing else. Then without warning… it aged to the correct body type it should have in two days. Its mentality was a patched-together thing of madness. I still remember the video recordings, I see them in my nightmares. It was being taken to a base in Wyoming….. and that's when it happened. It suddenly started killing everything as it tried to walk out of the base. Blackwatch sent _everything_ it could, every military branch, every experimental weapon, but they didn't even phase Pariah. They skipped the nuke and went straight to the Gods. The Illuminati sent their god squad and they destroyed everything in sight around that base. It was the apocalypse on Earth, nothing was left for miles. So when Alex says he needs to be sure… he means it. He doesn't want that it to happen in Stilwater, to all of the Hive. He doesn't want this to end in any way that finishes with Gods coming down on us." At that, the doors opened for Aisha. "I don't expect you to be happy or even be okay with how things are… just to understand why Alex is being the way he is. It's just... that the stakes are that high."

* * *

Alex sat in his favorite lawn chair in the parking lot of Purgatory. He had just finished painting a giant eye in a pyramid onto the asphalt and was blasting the song _Walking On Sunshine_ out of a nearby ghetto blaster. It didn't take long for his Illuminati watch dogs to get the message, and soon Jax was standing in front of him.

"Okay… I get it. You need something." Jax growled after shooting the boombox. He _really_ didn't like that song. "So why'd you call us… something to do with your new pet?" Jax joked but soon found a sharpened tendril at his throat.

"Do not… insult her. Just don't." Alex warned dangerously before retracting his tendril back into his arm. "And no… but I am surprised at how little the Illuminati is doing on the Life Fiber front."

"Those things are trying to take over the world… doing that gonna piss off at least three of the five Omegas, we'll let them handle it." Jax waved the issue off. "Not only that but there's a few rumors going around that you might be takin' care of that problem anyways. So what'd you call us for?"

"I need someone from your organization, someone that knows the Psychic Plane and who can help in the study of the Blacklight Hive Mind. I'm cashing in that favor you owe me for handling the Sunshine situation." Alex explained as he leaned back in his chair. "Think you can send word that the Hives are hiring?" Jax looked down at the Viral not changing his expression, he sighed and looked off to the side before speaking again.

"You pulling that favor huh… the thing is… I still don't know exactly what you are. I don't know if the higher ups think of you, if you're an ally or an asset. I can tell that you've got someone up high thinking you could be of use in some way but… asking for actual personnel to be moved to work for you… that's big."

"You did it with Atshushi… _he_ says he's on orders from the Director himself."

"He's not the main branch of the Illuminati. He's Blackwatch… and they're on the chopping block, have been since they proved they couldn't handle their shit with the situations in Wyoming and New York. The main branch has been targeting people like the kid for years now, finding who's salvageable and who can still be useful. But giving one of our own… you kinda forced our hands with Mileena and that only worked because she had been a problem child and we needed to get on your good side."

"I'm walking on sunshine… and I feel goo-oo-oo-oo-d." Alex jokingly sang out.

"That's between you and my squad." Jax ground out, trying to get the conversation on track. "The rest of the Illuminati doesn't need know about that shit. Better for both of us." He sighed at the look of pure amusement on Alex face at that. "Aw shit… I should not have said that."

"You didn't tell your bosses about Sunshine… interesting… I wonder if…"

"Stop, just… I'll… I'll talk to a few people." Jax said as he wiped his face in exacerbation over his blunder. "Piece of shit flu got me…" Jax grumbled as he walked away.

* * *

Atshushi looked down at the sight before him with slight awe and horror. Alex's adoptive daughter… something that still didn't sound entirely right to him… was _playing_ in the Blacklight forest. She was running through the Viral trees based off the classical pine, the floor was covered in the twisted black viral grass, and several Imps were playing with her, which was bizarre since they normally avoided humans and only ever seemed docile around Evolved. But even around Evolved they never were this active. Yet Atshushi was there watching Ryūko running around with the Imps following her around like tiny dogs playing with their master. It all looked just so… horrifyingly normal to the scientist.

"So… this is the Life Fiber Hybrid child?" Atshushi was surprised to hear someone else in the Compound. Most of the Hive was avoiding it like the proverbial plague on the off chance that Aisha might be there. The voice was authoritative, feminine with a German accent. He turned around and to see a woman in her late thirties in a white and green lab coat. She was attractive, but the effect was lessened by the cold look in her eyes. "Are you Doctor Haga, the lead on Blacklight Constructs and the various Strains in this facility?"

"Yes, and currently the only person that is allowed to be researching said topics, on the authority of the Supreme Alpha of the Hive Minds and the Director of the Illuminati." Atshushi said with a slight scowl. He knew her type very well, lines of who was in charge of what needed to be stated and reinforced with names of authority. He dealt with more than enough people like her in Blackwatch and he needed to make sure that she knew that he had seniority on her here.

"I see, well I have been given orders by the Director himself to work here in the hopes of better understanding the Hive Mind. As requested by you and the Supreme Alpha Zeus. I am Doctor Vahlen of the Illumination Institute centered on trans-human studies." Atshushi smiled at the small twitch of irritation she gave at him getting the first bite out of authority.

"Don't call him that around Mileena or the man himself. But mostly Mileena. She really doesn't like the label." Atshushi warned jokingly as he returned to his watching of Ryūko. He could feel the growing irritation with the woman at his ignoring of her. "And for who you are, I know plenty. I read your 'Neurobiological Study On Enhancing the Human Brain Though Sonic Vibrations' while working on my second of four doctorates. I freely admit, you are my superior in every field but this one. Here I am the expert. The only human that could possibly know more about Blacklight more than I do is dead."

Vahlen was mostly unfazed by his bluntness. "Ah yes, Doctor Ragland, I was given a report on his notes and studies on the Blacklight virus during the year he spent with it before committing suicide. Very well done, most extensive."

"And then there's Alex, he knows more about Blacklight than anyone else given that he helped create the virus. He's also the most intimate with it being the first of the Evolved. So are you a Proto, or human like me?"

"Human, though I have on many occasions ventured into the Psychic Plane with the assistance of capable men and women. I have also been given several brands and mental seals safeguarding against most if not all of the dangers of the Psychic Plane. And I am surprised that you are not one of the Evolved, I had expected such a requirement for _their_ staff."

"They've offered it, but I turned them down. I'm still under the orders of the Director, and until then I can't take the offer of Evolution."

"Interesting… I have taken a tour of the facility. Are we the only staff on hand? Our work would be increasingly stunted without a full staff to assist us."

"I've discussed it with Alex… Infected could be used for menial labor, but for actual competent asistences and fellow men and women of science!" Atshushi called out in mock drama, much to Doctor Vahlen's irritation. "… we would need to screen them extensively. You and I are bound by our ties to the Illuminati and so we can be trusted to an extent but anyone else might become a security problem. Alex has said that until I become a Alpha there will be no staff."

"If an Alpha is needed, then…" She stopped as Atshushi began laughing quite loudly as he figured where she was going. "… is there an issue here?"

"You?! You just got here!" Atshushi laughed as he tried to control his breathing. "I've been here for years and have given the Hives assets that will become integral to their society and civilization."

"I see… then I better get to work to reach such…. _lofty_ heights as you yourself have reached." She coldly said as she walked out of the chamber to find her own lab in the complex.

"Oh dear… I've gone and pissed her off. Oh well… progress will be made regardless. Maybe she'll be able to figure out just why all of my Constructs lately have been going batshit crazy."

* * *

"Are you and Uncle Gat still fighting?" Ryūko asked as she took another spoonful of orange sherbet from the bucket-sized tub she and her adoptive father were sharing. Some time during the last two months, she had been legally made Alex's daughter, Doctor Matoi having signed the adoption papers he had sent. It was a nice thing to do, to say the least.

"It's more like Aunt Aisha is mad at me, and Gat has to follow her lead in this." Alex explained as he also scooped a bite out of the tub of sherbet. "But she's right to be mad at me… I did and still do threaten to kill her unborn child." Alex said with a casual tone that would unnerve most considering the subject matter.

"And why would you do that?" Ryūko also asked in a manner that would _really_ unnerve most when taking into account this was a child. Still, while Alex spoke that way because of his lack of morals, she did so because she was taking cues from her father figure.

"Because her child might become a monster so dangerous that it might kill everyone and everything we all love… but… it probably… won't." Alex trailed off as he looked out onto the skyline of Stilwater. He and Ryūko we're currently having their treat on top of one the several skyscrapers that dotted the city. "Either way, now we will see if that is indeed the case."

"Why?" Ryūko asked as she looked up with a slight confused look on her face.

"Because considering the amount of pain and stress Aisha is sending out in the Hive Mind… I'd say she just went into labor." Alex said as he pushed down the feeling to go to her right there and then. He was still on the outs with the Gat couple and his presence would not be a welcome one. Besides, he had a plan in place and had already sent word to the various Infected that would handle the situation. First, Troy would set up a police escort with Infected cops. They would take Aisha to a hospital where Infected would basically take over a whole section of the place and set up various barricades surrounding the delivery room. Both to keep people out and to keep anything dangerous in. Legionaries would be brought in through the normal means of garbage trucks. They would stand guard at the innermost sections of the Infected-controlled area of the hospital. Atshushi and the newly recruited Doctor Vahlen would handle the actual birth… with Shandi, Lin, and Mileena standing by in case the worst should come to pass. "Soon we will see if Naturals are the future or the doom of Blacklight."

* * *

Atshushi looked on through the front of his hazard suit as a wave of relief hit him. Everything had gone perfectly as planned. It was a blessing just for that, but one he would be fine to not have if it meant that the end result was still the same. The child was nothing like the reports on… that... said it was like. It was responsive to the parents and acted very much like a normal baby. There was a bit of a scare when it had shifted between its human form its viral one. It seemed to be a instinctive thing for the first born Natural, it was able to change between the forms perfectly and at will. And to Atshushi's surprise it seemed to favor the viral form. Gat and Aisha didn't see a difference between the two. That must have been the Blacklight's work on their brains.

"First month on this assignment and I've already delivered the first member of a new subspecies of Blacklight. How exciting." He heard the honest excitement coming from Doctor Vahlen despite her mask-muffled voice as she washed off her gloves in the nearby decontamination station. "Truly Blacklight will hold many more surprises." Atshushi saw his chance.

"If you're so happy, why don't you go and tell her that I'm going to need the baby for testing to confirm it won't go Anti-Christ on us." Vahlen's faced turned from one of elation to dread.

 _"_ _Bist du verrückt?!"_ Vahlen shouted in her native German. "I am _not_ killing myself, and how dare you try to trick me into doing so!"'

"Is there something that is wrong? Mileena said as she approached the two scientists.

" _We_ need the child for testing, one final confirmation that it isn't just putting on a cute face to fool all of us. I'm sure that it isn't but Alex is going to need us to be through." Atshushi explained before turning to Vahlen.

"We need to test various neurological responses to make sure that he has the three things subject Pariah lacked…" Atshushi visibly winced at the mention of that horror. "… pain, empathy, and familial recognition. If we can confirm those traits are indeed in the child then we will know without a doubt that it is no danger to anyone just by living."

"Exactly how will be testing it for pain?" Mileena needed to confirm that it wasn't going to be something that might set of the newly made mother.

"Small electric shock. As Viral beings are naturally resistant to most other forms of pain. Only highly strong acids seem to produce lasting pain and _we_ do not wish to place the child anywhere near such materials." Vahlen explained while glaring at her colleague, and Mileena nodded before walking back over to Aisha and Gat. The two new parents looked up at the Beta for a moment and then shot glares over to the two scientists but then it looked like Mileena said something that cooled them off. Aisha reluctantly handed her baby over and to everyone's continued relief… it didn't explode in a storm of viral spikes at the loss of its mother. Mileena walked back to Atshushi and Vahlen but did not hand over the baby.

"I think it would be best if I held onto him for the time being." Mileena stated and the two scientists nodded in agreement. The three walked out of the delivery room with the baby Natural in hands.

"So what did you say to Aisha that made her give him up?" Atshushi asked as they walked through the halls of the hospital, Legionaries standing guard at each corner. They all eyed the small Natural in Mileena's arms with caution and readiness. They would protect the Hive from all threats both inside and out.

"I told them that you two were finally going to show Alex that he was wrong. And how he is being a moron for acting the way he has been." Mileena stated with zero emotion to her voice.

"But, you agree with the Alpha don't you?" Vahlen asked carefully.

"Let us just get the tests out of the way." Atshushi said not wanting to hear Mileena's answer. The three walked through the doors of the room preset for this purpose. "Let's get the pain test out of the way and then we'll hook his head up to all this brain tech…" Atshushi said motioning to the various machines. Vahlen sighed at his unprofessional manners. "So… cattle prod…" Atshushi said as he took out the said tool. "I have downgraded the voltage to the lowest setting I could before Price couldn't feel anymore, seeing as he and Donnie as the weakest Evolved at the base, we will continue to up the voltage until we get a reaction. If he get past the point where it would knock even Alex out… I'm calling it that he can't feel pain." Atshushi warned as he approached Mileena. Mileena watched as Atshushi pressed the tip of the pole to the baby's arm and then jolted him with a small shock. The baby didn't even notice. "Okay… he can handle Noble levels of pain. Let's take it up to where Gammas start feeling it." Atshushi said as he turned a knob on the cattle prod and then cautiously ouched the tip to the baby's arm once again. Like before, it did nothing. "I'm getting worried… Gat is a Beta so it is possible that his child would have comparable levels of ability. But if he goes past this… thing won't be looking good."

"If he does indeed not feel pain, what would that mean?" Mileena asked before Atshushi performed the test once again.

"Pain in humans is used as a negative reinforcement. If a child does not get this biological lesson, then it would have disastrous effect on their forming psychology." Vahlen explained.

"Yeah… a life without pain to tell you that getting hurt is bad, makes people unlikely to sympathize with people that are in pain. Add a set of bio-claws into that mix and you have a dangerous cocktail." Atshushi added before placing the cattle prod to the baby's arm. This time they got a reaction… in the form of the baby shifting into its viral form, its jaw splitting from ear to ear exposing two rows of needle-like teeth which it used to bite the end off the offending tool. "Oh…. it can feel pain and it does not react well to it."

"It is a child experiencing pain for the first time." Mileena stated mildly.

"Dear lord, am I happy I did not spank it." Atshushi mumbled as he walked back over to return what was left of the cattle prod to where it was. "Okay… we have confirmed that it can feel pain… though I will be making the prediction that the exact lesson of pain will be needed to be made on purpose rather than accident like it normally is. Which means beating your child will be seen completely differently in Evolved families. Not as a taboo and horrible occurrence… but a lesson that needs to be taught. That's a little sad… anyways… on to the brain chemistry tests." Atshushi and Vahlen both helped Mileena place the child in a small medical bed for babies and began attaching various nodes to its head.

"We are getting the signals." Vahlen said as the machines began coming to life. "Remember that we must take good care of them. These are highly advance machines for the analyzing of human brains, normally these are for the Proto-Novi so we must be careful."

"Yeah yeah… I already named one Dave-p-o…" Atshushi enjoyed the small frown on Vahlen's face. "Everything is coming in normal… comparable to baseline human newborns…"

"I am seeing marked increase in certain areas… but from what we know of Blacklight… it would be safe to say that this is from the activity of the Hive Mind. It's like it's learning subconsciously from it. Maybe even absorbing memories from nearby Evolved."

"Mileena… anything from your end?" Atshushi said not looking away from the data being gathered.

"I can feel… something… a small poking around the outer reaches of my mind. It's not being forceful so I don't think it would trigger any attack instinct." Mileena said as she looked over the baby. It was currently in its viral form. Its entire body was a pristine sculpture, with skin that looked like it was a cross between dark obsidian glass and fine leather. Its eyes were still, almost like they were more there for decoration, unmoving and with no details like irises or any other part of normal eyes. And it mouth was in the same decorative state, once it had calmed down from the earlier pain, the jaw reattached itself with no line or crack to show that it ever was opened to an unnatural degree. Now, in place of a normal human mouth were unmoving flawless lips. Everything about the child's viral form screamed perfection, like a statue made of dark glass. But this was not a statue… and so it unnerved Mileena quite a bit.

"Mileena… we need you to interact with the child." Atshushi called out from his safe spot behind the machines. Mileena nodded and… she didn't really know what to do. She had never interacted with a baby before. She poked it once and it made a sound akin to a small giggle but there was still no movement from the mouth. So the sound must have come from somewhere else. Mileena noted that the skin of the child felt exactly how Mileena suspected marble would feel like if it was soft and squishy. "Okay… you're doing it wrong." Atshushi said as he got up from his station and walked over to the baby. "You got to put more into it… hey buddy… hey… who's going to grow up and become aa awesome good monster… you are…" Atshushi said all in his best baby voice.

"Doctor Haga, I think you might want to come see this." Doctor Vahlen called out in a slightly worried tone.

"Argh… I told you that you can just call me by my first name." Atshushi sighed as he walked back to the computers. "Oh… that's not good… thaaaat might give us problems."

"What? Is something wrong?" Mileena asked.

"Well… yes and no. You see when you interacted with the baby, it responded like any baby would. It basically went _Ooh… another person, yay_ … but when I went over and played with him… nothing. It was like I wasn't even there."

"No, it did recognize you… but at the same level as a human newborn would an animal." Vahlen said with no energy to that development. "This could become disastrous… this could develop into major superiority complexes to uninfected humans. At best the Naturals will see humans as we do with domesticated pets and livestock… and at worst… inferior beings."

"What the German is trying so desperately trying to avoid saying… Blacklight Nazis." Atshushi said unashamed of the offensive comparison. "So yeah… they might not be a threat to the Hives… but they could become a major threat to humanity."

"But their opinion on humans might vary from Natural to Natural." Vahlen said not even truly noticing the earlier comment. "All the data is saying is that they will have the disposition that humans are not the same as Evolved. We still don't know which side Infected would be on this issue also."

"What about the other tests you had to do?" Mileena asked.

"The fact it recognized you as person means that it does have the ability to recognize family, or at least a sense of species. Now that we have this data… that thing… might have also had the same issue. It might have recognized others of its kind like this child is with you. But… uh… that's not important. All that is left is the Empathy test and for that… we don't really know how we can do that. I was going to cut my finger in front of the kid but since it doesn't see me as people. And you can't do it because it will likely instinctively know that you are fine."

"What about shocking me?" Mileena offered.

"Um… yeah… that could work. It has already learned 'shocking bad.' But uh… it broke my... thing… so..." Atshushi muttered as he knew that this test was important and so stepped outside to call Troy who was waiting outside holding the strongest cattle prod he could find. He had to argue with the police chief for about ten minutes but eventually Mileena pressured Troy into doing it.

"Seriously guys, what do you need a… whoah whoah whoah, no fuckin' way are you using this on a baby!" Tory yelled as put two and two together outside the lab that was housing the child.

"Oh shut up, it's a Blacklight baby… I already tested a way stronger shock on it and it's fine. This is for Mileena anyways." Atshushi said as he took the cattle prod from the shocked Troy. Troy was about to stop the scientist when Alex focused in on Tory with his full attention. Alex had said many times, no one under any circumstances touches Atshushi. He had contributed far too much to Blacklight and was a Alpha in all but official Evolution. "Got the thingy…" Atshushi said as he walked over to Mileena. "Just stick out your arm over the kid… yup like that." He said as he placed the cattle prod to Mileena's outstretched arm. They waited until it was clear that the baby was watching and Atshushi gave a quick shock to her arm. The shock was enough for the Beta to feel a small piercing sting and caused her to reflexively pull away. The two then looked over to Vahlen.

"There was something there… for a moment." Vahlen said giving the two a good bit of relief.

"Okay… so at least Naturals can empathize with Evolved... that's good." Atshushi nervously sang out, clearly worried that it was likely not the same case for humans. "Let's get the little Übermensch out to his parents." He said a little bitterly.

* * *

Alex breathed a sigh of reprieve at the feelings of confirmation Mileena was sending him. Naturals were not going to be a threat to the Hive. There were undertones of worry to Mileena's message so he knew that there was still something.

"Sooo… how is it going?" Ryūko asked as Alex looked out towards the hospital.

"I'm wrong… so that means things are going great."

* * *

Mileena walked back into the delivery room which had already been changed up a bit to make things a bit more comfortable for the new mother and child. Mileena quickly handed the child back to its mother and stepped back a bit before giving them the news.

"He came back with a good results." Mileena simply stated giving the two parents the confirmation that everything was going to be okay. "The only issue that they found was a small problem with normal Uninfected humans. Apparently Naturals will see humans the same way we see a dog or cats… or cows. But it's nothing to be that worried about." Mileena said trying to sound as assuring as possible though it wasn't all that successful. But Gat and Aisha couldn't care, all they knew was that they and their child wouldn't be under threat from their own Hive. "Do you have any names ready?"

"There was only one that we both thought would be perfect for him." Gat said as he enjoyed the sight of his mate so happy with her son in her arms. "Julius."

* * *

In a dark cave in the Wyoming wilds the air was unnaturally still. Nothing alive dared to come within a mile of the cave. Not even plant life had begun to grow near it. Only the small dripping of water and the sound of moving tendrils ever made a sound. And in the rare times, there was a voice that seemingly came from every wall in the earth.

"Mother… taken…" The voice began its mantra. The slithering sound of moving biomass echoed in the labyrinth of collapsed caves. "Father… never existed…" The tone was grim… and solidly voiced. There was no sadness to it, just a feeling of self-hating longing. "Parents… Men with Needles." Then there was anger… but no rage. Just unnatural anger. "Family… Masked Men filled with **Hate**." The anger was gone and now replaced by amused disinterest. "Friends... Viiiiiictims." There was hunger for so many things in that crooning whisper.

The tendrils continued to slither around its subterranean home, every now and then it would find a source of light and begin feeding off the sun's rays, or a new spot where water dripped down and the being would coil around the new spring of water. It was… content with its place here. There were no people to irritate it. Its mind could just… be quiet. It didn't have to think, just survive. Survival, that's all that was needed here. It had been this way for… it didn't keep track of time. Only before and after coming to this place mattered to it. Before it was noisy and filled with reminders it was even alive. It hated that, living, it hated the idea of its own life with a passion. Living was a pain, it was pain itself. All it wanted now was to survive and nothing more.

The being continued its normal routine of finding new things in its cave and growing out from its center. It had been a perfectly uneventful day. Not that it thought about it much, only thinking about how it hadn't found anything and not so much about liking it that way. But then… it felt something… something had happened. Something that caused it to think… beyond its underground domain. It wasn't something that one of its many tendrils that composed its body felt… this had been something inside of it that caused this. Something out there had made it feel something. The being ignored this… it was content… it survived… that's all it needed. Thinking reminded it was alive and that it was more than something that just survived but was made to evolve past surviving. But in the back of its mind… it couldn't stop thinking about what happened on this day that was supposed to have been like all others.

* * *

Author's Notes

Sorry to everyone about how long this took to get out. There was a little mix up with a spam filter but everything is back to normal now.

So lots of stuff happened with this chapter. Aisha finally gave birth, was never going to write the actual giving birth scene as... never in a million years could I think I could do it right. And... we got more information on Pariah. Its out there... but no one knows it. And it felt the emergence of another Natural.

Next chapter is all set and ready and I will be posting it in one week. Anything after... not sure.

The Halloween poll will be closing three days after the next chapter.

Reviews

Helkil - no... never... will I put that thing in my story. But... it is one of the funniest things in SR3.

Reads too Much - They will be called Forty Seven Saints. And I like Jax so much, I've only seen him in the first few episodes but he's my favorite. And I felt the way I wrote it was a pretty good deal with the devil kind of thing. And it is too late plus that idea is a bit on the nose for me. I want to have Alex go completely overboard with his costume to comic-con cosplay level of detail.

IAmPedobear - they would be broken beyond all thought or reason until they were a drooling mass of meat and madness. Tortured beyond what can be called human. Alex lacks the morals to hold back in that case.

Xalimech - yeah... I've set myself up for a lot of work. Next chapter we'll see how things are going with Shogo.

Rmarcano321 - Yeah... nope.

Leonineus - nah... Watch_Dogs San fran. And he will... at some point.

Torlo50 - Don't worry... I have a galactic sized plan. Hehehe... but that is for the sequel. Alex doesn't really have that many long term plans other than... Lots of Hives... and Lots of Saints.


	41. WatchDogs Spin Off Preview

Shogo

Forty-Seven Saints

"So we have no money… any reason _why_ we have no money?" Shogo asked as he watched Dana try to enjoy her coffee. The two had arrived in San Francisco about five days ago after Dana had hurried Shogo onto a plane with no questions allowed. Fast forward, and they were living off the small bit of money and housing that was being provided by Shogo's Infected centered in Japantown.

"Because my brother can and will be very vindictive when he wants to be." Dana replied as calmly as she could. After her and her brother's… separating, she had found that said vindictive side had begun to show up. All support to Shogo' Hive had been cut off, and her bank accounts had been frozen. Plus, she was pretty damn sure that if she ever set foot in Stilwater again she would be shot and hung up by her toes. But in reality she was thinking she was getting off fairly light when it came to her brother's poor attitude, and at least there was a half-decent chance of their relationship mending towards a barely neutral one.

"Your brother, the Supreme Alpha of the Blacklight Hive Minds and Boss of the Saints, both of which I belong to?!" Shogo quietly demanded.

"Yeah, him. I promise that he _will_ eventually calm down and the fact he's taking a lot of his anger out on you is temporary. Pinkie promise." Dana said, trying to keep the living walking death machine that was a Evolved Alpha calm.

"Fine… but you need to give me something. We've been in this city for five days and all we have done is get me a few Infected, which I can barely take care of without more support." Shogo rightfully complained as he had only been given one canister of Infected Serf Class strain, which had given him only about twenty-five Serfs after he placed it in a crowded street in Japantown. He had called back to Stilwater asking for more, but he had gotten some bullshit answer about how they couldn't risk flying any strains out. So at the moment all Shogo had to work with was a meager workforce, one Beta class, and three Gamma class Apples of Evolution.

"It'll be okay… we just need to talk to my friends and then we'll get to work on getting you your Evolved… once you do that I'm sure that someone will send you some more Infected Strains." Dana said trying to continue to calm down Shogo.

"Are you sure about leaving everything by the way… I mean… I know I don't have all the details but… it just seems a little… you've been in so deep with Blacklight and now you're just going to leave it all?" Shogo said changing the subject, one that had been bugging him since leaving Stilwater. Dana shot him a small glare for it and then looked away.

"Alex is my brother, but he's a ticking time bomb of crazy… I just don't want to be anywhere near it when he finally blows. I never even wanted to part of this shit, I did it because of family ties and survival. Now I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear with Blackwatch, so survival doesn't mean much anymore. Alex… nope… he's getting too far gone, and this is for the best." Dana finished with a tone that clearly said the conversation was done. So the two continued to wait for Dana's contact within the San Francisco chapter of Dedsec. Shogo was still a little skeptical about working with the hacker group despite what he had heard about their work in bringing down the CToS system Blume had built in Chicago. The whole thing sounded corrupt to Shogo, both on Dedsec's end and Blume's. On one side you had anarchist hackers killing and ruining people's lives, and on the other you have a scary megacorporation tracking and watching everyone like Big Brother. Of course, Shogo was now a viral superbeing so this wasn't even close to abnormal as he was.

The two of them continued to wait for someone to show up at the small internet café near Mission Dolores Park they had been told to meet at. An hour rolled by, then two hours, the whole thing starting to look like a setup when a small quadcopter drone hovered over to them. Shogo stared at the stylized painted robot and it _stared_ back. It then hovered over to Dana and made a few sounds taken straight from R2-D2.

"I think it wants us to…" The drone flew over to Shogo and began blaring a siren sound and then moved back to Dana where it continued the Star Wars droid sounds. "… correction… just you to follow it." Shogo said a tad bitterly.

"Oh don't be mad, you're just an unknown variable to my friends. Wait here, I'll do some sweet talking" Dana said as she stood up and then followed the drone off to an alley where two people were waiting for her. One of them screamed happily and gave Dana a friendly hug while recognizing her.

"Dana! I haven't seen you since that job in Stilwater, how have you been girl?" The woman said as the two parted.

"Hey Sitara, doing okay I guess. Had a falling out with family but it's all good." She said waving off the events that led to her moving away from Stilwater. "You look like you're doing good, heard about that op you did on that Cyberdriver movie."

"Ohhhh yeah… that got a fuckloud of attention, and our botnet keeps racking up the followers." Sitara said fully pleased about remembering that victory against terrible filmmaking. "Besides… always preferred Cage to Siska anyways." The man behind Sitara did a mock gasp and stepped away from her.

"I'm tellin' Wrench you said that." He said with a grin that told Dana everything she needed to know about him.

"Please don't do that, last time I got on his revenge-for-stupid shitlist every printer I tried using would only spit out pictures of his ass." Sitara pleaded.

"Alright, anything to save the world from more of the horror that is Wrench's ass." He said before turning to Dana. "Hey, Marcus Holloway, but you might know me as Retr0."

"Cool, heard about your work on HDC. Nice job taking down CToS lite. I'm Dana Mercer, also known as DaveM88 and Ath3a." He stepped back in shock at the mention of her online persona.

"No fuckin' way… I am not worthy… I am not worthy…" Marcus said as he fake-bowed to Dana. "You single handedly shut down CToS New York when they wanted to rebuild the whole fucking city with CToS as a foundation." Marcus recounted how Dana had saved New York from a Blume and Blackwatch plan to literally rebuild New York into an Orwellian nightmare.

"Oh it was no big deal… it was a _massive_ deal. But enough past shit. I hear that you guys are trying to take down Blume in their own backyard. Thought you could use a little help in that."

"And we'd love it… just… we're all too happy to have you Dana but we don't exactly know who that guy with you is." Sitara said looking back out to entrance of the alley where Shogo was leaning against the wall. "Guy feels off to me."

"Yeah, he has that effect on people, maybe because he has trouble listening!" Dana called backwards exasperatedly. "But trust me when I say he's… well he might not be a good guy… but I know what his goals are and they work with ours."

"And what exactly are these goals?" Marcus questioned.

"He wants to chase the street gangs out of San Francisco, establish his own and then run the street with a iron grip. By eliminating all the other gangs he'll end the gang wars and control the black market." Dana said trying to explain.

"So, what happened in Stilwater with the Saints?" Sitara asked. The news of the Saints and what they had done had become a worldwide fascination. Criminals controlling the streets and doing a better job at keeping people safe and happy than the police and government.

"Yeah, he's here to set up a Saints chapter. I told him if he helps us take down Blume then we'd point him the right way and hook him up with some resources." Dana said and the two Dedsec hackers looked at each other for a moment. There was a tense silence before Sitara spoke.

"You're a Council of Daves member… it's about as close to a leadership as Dedsec has, and it still carries a lot of weight even here on the West coast. I know you wouldn't pull some bad shit, so I trust you. If you say he's on our side then we should at least hear him out." Marcus nodded at Sitara's reasoning.

"Good, because we have some other things that we need to talk about. Is there somewhere we can all talk that's not so out in the open?" Dana asked as she eyed her surrounding area. The two Dedsec hackers looked at each other again this time in confusion.

"Sure… we got a place right over here." Sitara said as they began walking out of the alley. As they passed Shogo the viral kept a clean face of indifference and a stoic watchful eye. The four of them walked down the street and into a small comic shop. They walked though only getting a small noticed eye from the people inside. They came to a code-locked door in the back and Sitara entered in the password. After a small waiting time the door opened and the group began to walk down to the basement. The entire place was filled with electronic equipment, screens covered entire walls, racks of servers occupied the corners, and a half-dozen tables were piled with machine and computer parts in various states of repair and disassembly. The room was decorated in colorful graffiti in the local Dedsec style: a dazzling neon blend of pop, counter, and net culture.

"Hey, you guys are back! And you have brought back the mistress of digital pain and unholy net knowledge!" A man with his face covered in a spiked digital mask called out as he approached. "The mighty Ath3a! All bask on her Lone Wolfness and badassery!"

"Calm down Wrench, Dana is just like me and Marcus… but not you… no one is like you." Sitara joked as two other men came. Sitara turned back to Dana to introduce the incoming hackers. "This great guy here is Josh, also known as Hawt Sauce."

"Hey…" Josh said quietly and meekly, clearly not the best at social interaction. The introduction of new people in the Hackerspace was certainly not helping.

"And this player over here's Horatio." Sitara said as she motioned to the other man.

"What up girl, have to say, big fan of your work." He said as he shook Dana's hand.

"Great now that we have finished the meet and greet for Madam Her-Hotness, can we get to who the fuck is this guy?" Wrench asked as he pointed to Shogo, his mask's eyes squinting suspiciously.

"I am Shogo Akuji, leader of the Forty Seven Saints." Once Shogo had stated his name everyone pulled back from him.

"You don't mean the same Akuji that are major Yakuza players do you?" Marcus asked as he and Wrench slowly began making their way to the Space's gun lockers.

"My father abandoned me and has likely disowned me by now. I have no formal affiliation with the Yakuza beyond a few friends that I still keep in contact with. Although most of them just laugh at me when I call." He growled that last part out. In the months since the fall of the Ronin he had gained a deep hatred of people laughing at him. At the news of Shogo's history every one calmed down, both due to the fact he was _not_ a member of the Yakuza and a little bit of empathy for his hardships. "I have joined the Saints in the hopes of proving that he was wrong to cast me out, and to prove that the man that saved my life was right to do so." Shogo said giving a small glare to Dana. She did feel a little guilty for her earlier badmouthing, Alex did in fact save his life and gave the former spoiled brat meaning in his life. Her saying that his boss was going off the deep end could be interpreted as saying his choice to give Shogo a second chance might be the wrong one.

"A man driven by a need to kill his father and prove himself to his new father figure! That sounds like a awesome modern day Samurai movie!" Wrench said now fully on board with Shogo. "I say give the guy a chance."

"Dana said you wanted to take over San Francisco's street gangs. What will happen after you do that, same as the Saints in Stilwater?" Horatio asked still a little skeptical over this.

"Basically, once the Forty Seven Saints have complete control over the organized criminals we will lock the city down and make sure it stays that way. Then we will begin sending back a tithe to the main Saints back in Stilwater while at the same time improving the local communities. Helping local businesses so that way we can charge more protection money as their own profits go up, helping people get off the harder drugs and onto our own less-dangerous brand and lastly organizing local charitable groups to help those that need it. All funded by my gang." The Dedsec hackers were shocked at noble plans of the career criminal.

"But how are you going to do it?" Josh spoke up. "Street gangs always try to beat each other out and gain more territory, few actually get the point of total control. They never stay that way long enough to make any real change, too much infighting and corruption."

"Should I show them?" Shogo turned back to Dana. She sighed and then nodded.

"This is going to get really freaky really fast. Just warning you." She said and then looked back to Shogo who gained a slight grin before his face was covered in the smooth shell that was the helmet of his Viral Armor. The hackers all jumped back and took cover at the sight of a living WMD in their home base. All expect Josh who actually expected something like this.

"Cool… cool." Josh said as he examined the viral from a small distance. "It doesn't look like the pictures of Zeus though… variation within the species… cool."

"What the fuck are you talking about Josh! And how the fucking fuck are you not freaked out by the… WHOAAHHHH… are those bio-claws?!" Wrench screamed in joy as Shogo showed off his weaponized appendages.

"I am an Alpha Evolved of the Blacklight Virus. And no I am not contagious." Shogo proudly informed them, though his voice was coldly monotoned and had a crisp edge to it that conveyed a feeling of quiet dread and terror.

"So Blacklight are the good guys… good. That's good." Josh said as he got closer to Shogo. "Does this mean that there are more of you?"

"There are currently four Alphas, and one Supreme Alpha: Alex Mercer." At that they all looked to Dana who was dreading having to explain this.

"Dana… care to tell us why your brother is this Supreme Alpha character?" Sitara asked from behind the couch with Marcus and Horatio hiding with her.

"Alex… he's… Zeus." As much as Blackwatch didn't like it, Alex's existence had in fact gotten out into some circles. Dedsec had known about Zeus for a while, one of their hackers had gotten into Blackwatch's servers and leaked a few documents. Blackwatch had been quick to plug the holes, and the hacker was forced to go dark and retire to a place with no cameras or internet before the files could reach the public, but copies still existed for those who knew where to look. Dana then gave a quick version of Alex's true story: him showing up in Dana's apartment with no memory of who he was, to him fighting Greene, and finally saving New York from a nuke. Then she went on to how they and Ragland escaped from New York and ended up in Stilwater. Alex joined the Saints, developed the Hives, got trapped in a coma for five years, then woke up and reconquered Stilwater.

"HAHAHA! You w-were barely a threat to them! AHAHA!" Wrench guffawed at Shogo once Dana had finished the story. "Y-you didn't even… er….." His laughing stopped at the sight of Shogo's talon at his throat.

"I don't like it when people laugh at me." Shogo said darkly before retracting his claw in the face of Dana's glare. "The point is that Blacklight and the Saints are your allies. So… would any of you be willing to ascend to godhood?" Shogo asked casually to the group of hackers.

"Uh… gonna have to pass." Marcus answered for the group. All of the other nodding in agreement. "Look man, we're not your crew… we're hers." Marcus said pointing his thumb at Dana. "You gotta find your own people, it might take a while but hey, I'm sure you can do it."

"You don't get it! I need people now, every single one of the other Hives have already blown way past me. Alex has a least a fifth of Stilwater as his Infected and a full pack of Betas and Gammas. Maero has his three hundred and who the fuck knows how many gammas and Nobles under him. The General has a small number of Evolved but they are some of the most badass people you will ever met and hundreds of Infected loyal to him. Dane might only have his one Gamma and not even a hundred Infected… but all of those Infected are executives at either Ultor or some big-ass corporation. So right now… I'm the fucking runt of the Hives. I hate it! I was the fucking runt of the Yakuza and now I'm right back where I was!"

"It's not that we don't get it man, we do. A bunch of Dedsec thinks _we're_ a bunch of kids playing at being hackers…" Horatio said trying not to piss off the viral. "… but it's like what Marcus said… you need to find your own people."

"Alex didn't start with Gat right when they first met, Shogo." Dana said. "He came to know the guy and then when he was sure that he could trust him he gave him the Beta strain."

"It's how he started things with Mileena." Shogo countered.

"Yeah… but that was, like, a really lucky gamble that he won. And then he got double lucky when Mileena went all _Notice me Sempai_ on him."

"No. way… so not only does Zeus have A. a hot-as-fuck Latina Harley Quinn, B. a stoner hippy chick. C. a hard-ass drag race diva but he also has D. a super psychic ninja yandere too!? That man is a god." Wrench was in sheer awe as he listed the women currently in Alex's harem.

"And if Alex doesn't implode on himself, which I personally think he will, he will eventually have a legitimate argument for that title with how fast his power is growing." Dana sighed at the situation that was her brother.

"Is Blacklight something we should concerned about?" Sitara asked as everything they had been talking about had worried her. "I mean they are starting to sound like Blume but with DNA instead of computers."

"Blacklight isn't interested in the everyday lives of humans. Our only concern is expanding the Hives and the protection of our own." Shogo said before continuing. "Expansion is only as far as when we can support ourselves. We don't have any plans to take over the world or even infect it. It wouldn't be that hard to do anyways. One people are Infected they would never turn on us and tell those not yet Infected." Shogo said sending a shiver up the spines of the humans as he was right, Blacklight could in fact Infect anyone it wanted and no one would know. "Currently the only things limiting us is the fact we are heavily outnumbered and outgunned. We also have many enemies that need to be addressed but that's not for me or you to handle. That's shit for the Supreme Alpha."

"So, Dedsec now has the support of the Saints and the Blacklight hives… not at all what I expected to happen when you called Dana." Sitara said but was surprised by the frown on her friend's face.

"You don't really… Alex is very hands off when it comes to the Saints chapters and the daughter Hives. He gave all of them an initial cash fund but um… with me and his little spat… he seems to have drastically reduced Shogo's budget. In funds and Viral support. So Dedsec has currently one Evolved and just the leader of a nonexistent gang." Dana said much to their disappointment.

"We still have an Evolved on our side… that's….. good, isn't it?" Josh said simply, trying to remind them that it was still a very big asset to have.

"Yeah, but how could we use him…" Sitara said with a cunning smile as she circled Shogo. "… not to kill people… that's not how we do things."

"That's how the **Saints** do things… listen… if none of you are interested in joining up, hen I'm out… this relationship between us… is give and take. And right now… we are even. You haven't given me shit, so I ain't giving you shit." Shogo said as he began walking towards the door. "If you have something for me then call and I'll do something for you… but you are going to need to be careful because I will handle it the way I see it should be handled." Shogo finished before tossing a burner phone on the couch and walking out of the hackerspace.

"Geez Louise… guy has issues." Wrench said with everyone giving him a glare that said _Look who's talking_.

A

Shogo was walking through the streets of San Francisco's Japantown not really going anywhere. He was still fuming that the Dedsec group had been a bust for him. He had really thought Dana would come through, but it turned out all he got was a bunch of graffiti-drawing internet trolls he could call for "favors," not people who wanted to join his Hive. He had thought about going the Vogel way and just taking his Apples of Evolution to some tech giant. CEOs often had dreams of marking their mark on history as some way to immortalize themselves. Why not cut the middle man out and just become immortal for real?

But that idea had holes in it. For one thing, those same people would not be the kind to roll over and let an out-of-towner twenty-something tell them what to do. While the instinct to be loyal to one's Alpha was strong, it wasn't absolute. Plus, he didn't have the micromanagement skills Dane had to keep Ultor running smoothly given that Infected weren't as capable as Uninfected.

Shogo stopped thinking about that when he heard someone talking about him as he was walking through the streets. It was only thanks to his enhanced hearing that did. There were two of them, both talking in Chinese. They were armed, one with a pistol and the other with a submachine gun. Shogo didn't have access to the level of knowledge the Supreme Alpha had so he wasn't able to determine their state of mind from their tone and mannerisms alone. One thing he did know was that they were sent to kidnap him, bag-over-head style given what they were saying.

" _So someone wants to talk to me… huh… interesting_." Shogo thought as he turned into an unused alley on purpose. The two took the bait and yanked a sack over Shogo's eyes. They then proceeded to pistol whip Shogo's torso and legs a bit before pushing him forward out of the alley and into a waiting van. All the while they had no idea that their target was letting them do this and was not at all harmed in their attack. They continued to talk about Shogo and their job for a little bit. Then they moved on to who fucked who, who killed who, who made more money than who, things that their "captive" found to be so boring it was more painful than the actual beating they gave him. The van soon came to a stop and he was dragged out and into some building. He was quickly dropped into a chair and the sack removed from his head.

The room he found himself in was classically decorated as an office with a detailed oriental theme. Not surprising given that it was clearly a Triad boss who had brought him to this location. Said Triad boss was sitting back in a clearly expensive and comfortable leather chair, an older woman in what Shogo knew to be in late fifties, yet she was stunning in appearance. Not in a surgical way that would destroy any natural beauty she had, she had aged gracefully and had a hard determined look to her.

"Akuji Shogo, you have some balls to set foot in San Francisco." She said, her voice cold as steel and direct. There was no room for unneeded speech with her. "So before I kill you… I ask you… how is your father doing. It's been ages since we've seen each other." Her tone went from serious to casual in a second.

"Auntie Shu… you look good… dad's getting more like the crypt keeper as each day passes." Shogo said as he leaned back in his chair. He would not be the boy that Auntie Shu knew. He would be strong and appear confident that she was the real reason why he chose San Francisco, not because of Dana or because of the reasons Alex thought of. But because this woman was here. "I'm sure you heard that he disowned me and cut all ties with my following my failure to take Stilwater for the Yakuza. That was due in much part to your colleague Mr. Wong." Shogo said smiling at recounting his failure. "Since then, I have joined the Saints… which have a ten-year alliance with the Triad. So… you can't tou…" At that Auntie Shu shot Shogo in the head with her revolver.

"Don't think for a second you were ever untouchable brat. One of you clean up this… mess." She stopped speaking as her face turned to a deeper scowl as she watched Shogo's head push out the bullet and heal itself back into place. " _So what Wong said was true… interesting._ " She thought behind a mask of stoic interest at the what was happening before her.

"Ah… and that too… I guess you _can_ touch me. It just won't matter, because I'll get back up every time." He said as he stood up from the chair, breaking from the restraints like they were made of string. "Not only have I joined the Saints, but I have moved past the boy you knew. I've now become something far more… I have become…"

"You haven't changed at all." She interrupted before taking a drag from the cigar in her hand. "You're still the same spoiled brat, you just have new toys. So explain to your auntie just what happened since you seem so determined to prove that you've grown up." She said with a completely unimpressed tone that took all the energy out of Shogo. "Well… I'm waiting, brat."

"Uh… yeah… I… I joined Blacklight. The leader of the Saints is a Blacklight Viral being who can turn others into immortal Viral beings like him. He made me one of four Alpha's with him being the Supreme Alpha."

"I see… immortality, interesting. That certainly would be something I could lord over the old fossil that is your father." She said with a clear smug tone but with no smile that would normally come with it. "Can you make me into one of these Viral Beings?"

"Yes but… only as my Beta… only the Supreme Alpha is allowed to make more Alphas." Shogo explained looking down at his feet.

"That will not happen. There is no way in hell that I would ever submit to _you_. Is there a way for me to speak to him and discuss me becoming one of these Alphas?"

"Uh… I might be able… no… no no no no no… noooo… no. No." Shogo started as he felt a massive amount of pressure crash down on him from within the Hive Mind. His face twisted at the level of pain and discomfort this was causing him. "… yeah… he's saying a big 'no' on that."

"I assume that you just felt some kind of connection to him."

"We have a Hive Mind, and you can… send out certain feelings and intentions to people in it. Not messages just… basic needs, wants, and ideas. Like screaming at me 'hell no.' " Shogo got a little scared at the sight of Auntie Shu starting to frown heavily at that news. "But, I'm sure if you prove that you can be loyal to him and the Hives he'll reward you with an Alpha strain. Helping me take over San Francisco's gangs and establishing my own Hive would certainly get him open to talking about it." Shogo hurriedly said trying to avoid pissing her off.

"Is that so…?" She took another drag from her cigar before speaking again. "… well then. I think we might be able to have a partnership. If anything, this will hopefully mean that you and I can have a proper aunt and nephew relationship. I have always regretted not knowing my sister's child."

"Hehe, yes…. Auntie." Shogo weakly chuckled as he really did not want to spend anymore time with his aunt now that she had effectively castrated him like she always did. He had thought becoming an immortal death-dealing superbeing would change that… he was wrong. His difficult journey in the criminal underworld of the Golden City had just barely begun

* * *

Reviews

rmarcano321 - one tiny little cell is all it takes.

Reads too Much - no, I just needed the character because... well I thought it might be fun.

Helkil - Okay here we go, 1. no... more like... just wait and see. But that wasn't what I was referring to... 2. TMI indeed. 3. Star Trek is lame... they are so weak and lame and... ugh... the Federation is a bunch of Emperor damned hippies Xeno-loving traitors. No. Mass Effect I can't do because Biomass Effect already is doing a great job and if I sequel'ed this story into ME then i'd in my mind be ripping off Viral Mates 2. Plus... I have been planning to take this into space since the beginning and I have very grim and dark universe in line for it. 4. no, you just don't see it as much. 5. Alex's pairing is... constantly changing for me. I never know who I am setting things up with. One chapter Mileena is the main, other days i'm fuck it just have a harem and not give a shit. Other days i'm thinking about who knows what. Alex's love life is very complicated.

Xalimech - I wasn't going to make the baby evil... much.

ArchangleMV - Nah, but thanks for reviewing. I got enough on my plate and what I got is enough.

IAmPedobear - thank you.

LORD DESTRYUK - Ragland's answer to the evolved is going to be... devious indeed. But its not really something that fits with your suggestion. Thanks anyways.


	42. Halloween

"IT"S STABLE! IT'S STAAAAABLE!" Atshushi screamed into the sky in the manner of Doctor Frankenstein. It was even more appropriate than usual given that he was dressed as Mary Shelley's original mad scientist. Halloween had come, and Atshushi simply had to play the part of the man as he was a proud real-life Doctor Frankenstein. He was currently standing over his latest creation.

It was intended as a mount for both Legionaries and Evolved alike. It was based off a prehistoric Raptor, reptilian in look and nature. Unlike the prehistoric bipeds, it stood on four legs and was as large as most horses while possessing a center of gravity closer to the ground. Its legs were meant more for climbing and strength than speed, Evolved could move as fast as most race cars so the need for a fast mount was unnecessary. Atshushi already had plans for a speed-based construct for the Hive's Construct military, both for land and air. This current subject was more for a front line mount built to be used for leaders, something that wouldn't diminish their combat effectiveness and could be just as deadly.

"Did you really need to do that?" Vahlen asked in a sigh of exacerbation. She was not in any costume for the holiday, seeing it as needless and a distraction.

"Oh come on… it's Halloween…Wooooo… spooky…" Atshushi gave it his best effort, he really did, but nothing on his fellow scientist's face changed. "Fine… now what to name this…" Atshushi said as he thought over the issue. "I could be lazy and just call it the Blacklight Raptor…" Atshushi sighed as he petted the head of his creation causing it to give a reptilian purr in approval. "Damn it this is frustrating!"

"It because you are limiting yourself to Latin and Roman Empire themes."

"I GOT IT! Capsule equites!" Atshushi cheered as he patted himself on the back for figuring it out, but then made a sour face as he thought it over. "No… that's complex… and Equites would be good for the standard front line mount but these are meant for commanders and Evolved."

"Nobilissimus Equitum, or for short you could just call them Nobilium." Vahlen suggested.

"Noble Cavalry, fine… better than anything I was thinking of." Atshushi grumbled as he gave one last look over the new Blacklight mount and then over to one of the waiting Legionaries. "One of you, come over here and test out the new addition to the Hives."

"At once Creator." One of them said before promptly saluting and walking over the Nobilium. The large reptilian mount looked at the Legionary with a small look of irritation before kneeling to allow the fellow Blacklight Construct to get on. The Legionary did so, and it was a perfect fit… after the mount had adjusted its back's shape a little bit to its new rider. On the side of the Nobilium were small fang-like bones that gripped outward and then clamped down on the Legionary's legs securing it onto its ride.

"Good… it looks to be responding well… but doesn't look to be that happy about it." Atshushi said looking down to the head of the mount and noted the small growling sound it was making.

"More than likely it won't accept any rider but the one that has claimed it the Hive Mind, and the only reason it is even allowing the current Legionary on it is because you ordered it to." Vahlen stated as she jotted down a few notes on the behavior of the Constructs.

"Okay… you can get off now. Make sure to get this one back in a pod and then return to your own." Atshushi said as he made his way toward the lab's exit.

"And just where are you going?" Vahlen asked, not looking away from the Constructs.

"To Alex's costume party! It's going to be awesome! I still can't get over the fact that I… am friends with Zeus… it's so cool. I, Haga Atshushi am friends with one of the most powerful beings on this planet!"

"Yes yes… before you leave could you check the Nerve Servers. We need to make sure they are growing at a stable rate every day and it being a holiday makes no exception."

"They're fine…" Atshushi groaned like a child being asked to take out the trash. "Please don't make me measure gray matter."

"Need I remind you of what might happen if we do not keep track of their growth? We wouldn't want them to expire on us and cause all the Constructs currently in this base to devolve into nothing better than basic Hunters."

"The Nerve Servers are supposed to be under _your_ directive, not mine." He pointed out as he really did not want to be anymore late for the party than he might already be.

" _I_ still need to document the various neurological relationships between the newly created Nobilissimus Equitum and the rest of the Hive Mind. Such work takes time and focus." She heard Atshushi groan again as he left through the door. He really didn't want to miss out on this party. Alex threw very few, only for holidays and victories he thought warranted it. On a normal day Alex was a one man party, what with the amount of booze, food, drugs, women, and various other vices he would indulge in, but for some reason he didn't throw many official big parties.

Ryūko's appearance in his life hadn't really changed his lifestyle much. He still drank booze like a fish breathed water to the point Atshushi had seen Ryūko put a blanket over a passed-out Alex before going to bed. She didn't yet understand that passed out for an Evolved was more a 1-hour type of thing rather than an all-night like humans. Atshushi had heard that Alex bought an entire fireworks store's stocks the next morning and spent the whole day playing with them with his adoptive daughter. He also hadn't stopped with his drug habits, only he had given Ryūko a in depth lecture on the various drugs that she would be exposed to. Atshushi had seen a chart in the Villa detailing which drugs Ryūko could use at which age. The scientist found it funny that Alex had put chocolate as a drug as a bit of a trick for the young girl. Surprisingly Alex's vice of loose women was the easiest to fix, he simply stuck to Infected and his little Harem. Infected regarded Ryūko as royalty and all of Alex's Gammas and Mileena all loved Ryūko in their own ways. It just went to show Atshushi that the Hives were really like one big strange family.

"Creator, we have arrived at the Nerve Server chamber." The sound of his Legionary bodyguard snapped Atshushi out of his thoughts and caused him to grumble.

"Fine, I'll just go over them with a quick look and then off to the party." Atshushi grumbled as he put in the passcode to enter one of the central room of the Hive Mind. The various locks were taking the usual full minute to release, and he was already mind-numbingly bored. He sighed as he entered and began going through the rows of Blacklight Structures. These, like the birthing pools, were constructs that were not sentient but could be built and or formed in a Blacklight environment.

They were called Nerve Servers, and they were essentially what they were named. Built to perform in a similar manner as computer servers. They were large and held no real uniform shape other than being about as tall as an average human man and holding a minimum circumference of five feet and maximum of eight. Their appearance was that of a large honeycomb of stark white bone with odd shaped sockets. Nestled in each of those holes was a pulsing mound of gray matter, a bundle of nerves in the appearance of a brain. Connecting every one of the structures was a line of twisting tendrils acting in the same way a wire connecting computers would. Their function was to provide more processing and memory to the collective Hive Mind. Atshushi with Vahlen was able to figure out why all of his new Constructs were turning out feral beast with no Hive Mind recognition. It was because the Hive Mind couldn't handle the added strain of forming a new complex addition into its ranks.

The Hive Mind was like one massive web of brains, a biological computer network. This theory had been given more substance when they explored the implications of it. What they learned was that this was why Infected began to lose themselves to the Hive Mind. It was why personalities were dulled and attention spans were shortened, the Hive Mind was taking up a percentage of their mental capacity for its own use. Evolved didn't suffer from this effect given that they had greater advancements in their internal biology. Not only that, but it was highly likely that some of the processing power of the Infected might actually be going to the Evolved. The long and short of it was that each of the Hive Minds headed by an Alpha only had so much ability as a whole. Alex had the largest by far with a little over a fifth of Stilwater Infected, which meant it had greatest ability to be able to support Constructs.

Blacklight Constructs relied heavily on the collective Hive Mind for the majority of their higher brain function. The level of reliance varied, Legionaries were at a mid level given how independent their minds worked, however they still were very tethered the Hive Mind for direction and Atshushi theorized that if they were cut off from their local Hive Mind then they would turn just as feral as an average Hunter Alex encountered in New York. Blacklight Imps were an example of a Construct that need far more reliance on the Hive, requiring it on a daily basis as it directed them to acquire more resources, resources that they needed to determine value on the spot. Atshushi had determined that Imps were only really worth the biological processing power until a Hive was able to find a location that could be used to grow Biomass via Blacklight-Infected Flora. Once this was done, the Imps should be recycled back into Biomass. Atshushi still liked the Imps as a creation and was looking into the possibility of variations of the species in order to warrant their tax on the limited processing power of a Hive. On the other side of the spectrum of the issue, the Blacklight Furies did little on the Hive Mind in terms of need, they were so simple in their thought behaviors that barely took up anything

Atshushi came to the conclusion that the larger the Hive, the more Constructs it could actively handle. Right now Alex's Hive was still integrating the Legionaries into its instincts, the Imps had been decreasing in number to accommodate the growing number of Legionaries. Atshushi had counted that only four had remained of the twenty he had originally made. The Furies were unaffected by the instinctual cull the Hive Mind had done as they didn't take up much in the Hive Mind.

But now they had the Nerve Servers, whose whole purpose was to provide processing power to the Hive Mind. Alex had described their presence in the Hive Mind as massive bubbles that the Constructs' lights were now held inside. Atshushi had wondered what might happen if a Evolved tried to enter one of these bubbles, but Alex said that their size was too small to even house a Noble much less himself.

"And… there… none of those little brains are looking to explode any time soon." The only defect that Atshushi and Vahlen had found in the Nerve Servers was that the mounds of gray matter in the structure tended to suddenly start growing at a rapid pace and then burst out of the socket causing it's neural capacity to drop suddenly and then cause any Construct minds housed within it to go feral.

The young Frankenstein clapped his hands together as if dusting them off. "Well, that's taken care of. Now… to the party!" Atshushi said running out of the chamber.

* * *

"I tell you, it is wonderful to finally met my granddaughter!" Alex's own father cheered as he bear hugged the very irritated Ryūko. The man had come to Stilwater for only intent of meeting her, the fact it was Halloween was just coincidence. The man that had raised Alex and Dana was dressed up as George Washington, as he had always dressed up as famous leaders for Halloween.

"L-let… me… go…" Ryūko struggled to get out and was almost being suffocated by the hug. She was dressed up as Arya from Game of Thrones, a show that Aisha had scolded Alex for letting the young girl watch but he was able to make the counter argument that anything on the show would be something she had already seen at home. That just made the new mother yell at the unrepentant Alpha louder and more often.

"One… second… done." He said before dropping the child. "It's just that I rarely get to take time off to come and see my kids anymore. I tell you, I feel like sometimes I spend millennia sitting on my keister doing nothing but busy work." He laughed before stepping back a bit. "They _are_ getting pretty loud out there, could probably hear them from all across Stilwater." The man said as he and Ryūko looked out to the backyard and pool area. Outside were about a thousand people all dancing and partying. The festivities were getting rowdier and rowdier, and the only thing keeping it from turning into a problem was the fact over seventy percent of the crowd was Infected.

"Can we just get going already… this music is way too loud." Ryūko complained as she held her hands to her ears.

"Once you say bye to your father so we can head out for some trick-or-treating. Ah, how I love this time of the year, when scary is fun instead of just scary. Alex! Get your ass down here!" The man called up to the upper floor, his voice easily booming over the sound of the music outside.

"Shut up old man…" It was Alex that had answered, but it wasn't his normal voice. It was rough and deeper than normal. Ryūko and Alex's father both watched as Alex stepped down from the stairs in full costume, having gone with dressing in full, authentic, and totally comic-con ready cosplay of Reaper from the video game Overwatch.

"Alex… how much did you spend on that costume?" His father asked.

"None of your damn business." Alex responded curtly as he cracked his neck in a small bit of a threat. He was not happy to see his father as it reminded him of his still-frosty relationship with Dana. The attention was soon taken off Alex and placed onto Mileena who stepped out from behind Alex in an equally-complete Widowmaker costume. He was unaware, but there had been a fight between the women of his Hive, minus Aisha, as to who would get to join him in his Overwatch costume. When Shaundi had won the friendly, term used loosely, game to decide this… Mileena simply used massive amounts of violence to get her own way.

"Wow…" And at that Alex's father took a quick picture of the two.

"You will delete that. Right **now**." Alex warned.

"I will not."

"You will."

"Posting it to Facebook right now."

"I'll gut you old man."

"Well now! People are already saying how amazing you guys are." Alex was about to use the fully functional shotguns in his hands, his pride as a Saint having demanded that they be functional weapons, when he felt the presence of Gat and Aisha at his door.

"Mileena, you take care of the old man. Come on Ryūko… I want to see the look on Aunt Aisha's face when she sees your costume." Alex chuckled as he led his adopted daughter toward the front door Mileena meanwhile looked at the man that had raised Alex and he gave her a warm smile.

"You know who I am… and you haven't told your Alpha yet?" He asked neutrally and Mileena just shrugged.

" _Pas mon secret à raconteur_."

" _Mais l'amour est le véritable test de fidélité, alors pourquoi mentir à celui que vous aimez_?"

" _Vous êtes vous, vous êtes au-delà de ces choses. Tout ce qui vous concerne est au-delà de notre compréhension. S'il ne le sait pas déjà ... je ne le dirai pas_."

"Very well, I thank you for your perception on this." He said before walking out to the front door where Alex and Aisha were having another shouting match concerning parenting styles. The first mated Evolved were both dressed up for the holiday, Aisha as Catwoman and Gat as a mascot version of himself complete with an oversized head. Their son Julius was wearing an adorable baby pumpkin costume that was totally ironic in its cuteness considering the being wearing it. Alex's father ended the argument with one loud clap which drew everyone's attention. "Enough with this, we are supposed to be giving these kids their first Halloween. It is a night to have fun and **not argue**." The two Evolved looked at each other unevenly. Aisha was a Gamma so submission to her Alpha was natural, her being mated to Gat had tempered that instinct but had not gotten rid of it. Giving birth to Julius had also given a boost to her independent thought, at least when it came to certain topics such as child safety. Likely an instinct to protect young Naturals from less-than-friendly Alphas. Meanwhile on the other side of the glare was Alex, who was only held back by his personal feelings of friendship to Gat and his respect to Aisha. He was the Supreme Alpha and as such felt entitled to win every argument with the lesser Evolved. So backing down from this was hard for him. For both it was only a small glace down to their respective children that stopped them from continuing, though Alex's own look was hidden by his mask.

"Fine… let's just get going. I want to make sure Ryūko is dragging her candy bag back home." He grumbled as he walked passed Aisha and Gat with a smiling Ryūko behind him.

"You better not let her eat it all in one night." Aisha mumbled under her breath as she followed the pair.

"Man, this is really getting old, I hope that they will hurry up and get over this thing." Gat sighed from the inside of his own giant head.

"Not very likely until Ryūko and Julius get older and one can point out the failures of the other while the other laments their success." Alex's father chuckled before walking out with Gat beside him.

* * *

 **The Next Morning.**

Carlos stirred from his party-induced coma. Last night had been one hell of a bash, and he had drank, smoked, and eaten more than he had ever before. He was seriously wondering just how Alex was able to do this on a daily basis and still run the Saints, the Hives, _and_ raise a daughter. That last one was a recent development but it had only added to the accomplishment.

"Ugh… I should have stocked up on Biomass before coming here." Carlos mumbled as his mind awoke. He tried moving his body only to find himself feeling the weight of another person on top of him. Not only that… but they were in a bed… and naked. He attempted to remember what happened last night as he was pretty damn sure he would have remembered getting lucky. If he did and didn't remember it then that would suck… depending on who was on top of him. The last thing he remembered was drinking some… thing Atshushi had created saying he could finally knock a Viral out on their ass drunk. "Well at least that shit worked." Carlos then moved himself out from under whoever it was and fell onto the floor. Apparently the bed they were in was a single. The sounds of a woman waking from the loss of Carlos was the next thing heard.

"Hey… where do… wait… where am I?" Carlos looked up and saw Shaundi getting up from the covers. "Uh… Carlos… did we?"

"Yeah… I think so." Carlos groaned as he wiped a hand over his face. "How deep do you think this went?" He asked before they both checked the Hive Mind and found that while they had avoided a full mating, their lights in the Hive Mind had moved closer. Where before Shaundi drifted like a firefly between the various lights of Alex's Hive and Carlos constantly orbited Alex's supernova, now Shaundi was following Carlos. Not claimed, but… notably close. Evolved accidentally Mate each other via sex had been discovered by a pair of Maero's Gammas and Nobles. Given how much Alex had sex with his Evolved it was clear that this only applied to lower Evolved.

"So… this is weird…" Shaundi remarked as she tried to understand what happened. Things had been… different for her ever since she had taken the Gamma Strain and become an Evolved. For one thing… she no longer found any other guy interesting except for the boss. Which was fine, as she never really was one for a fully committed relationship so the idea of just being fuck buddies was cool, an idea she was even more on board with after her first go around with him, because as Evolved they were able to manipulate their nervous system to the point where every single time they touched was like a full on orgasm of searing hot pleasure. Things got a little bit difficult once she had learned about Gat and Aisha, she certainly noticed how different she herself was acting around the boss. Once she knew of the possibility, she wanted more out of their arrangement. She wasn't like Luz or Lin in how they actively tried to get Alex to commit but… yeah, she fell for Blacklight instincts too. Things had mostly returned to normalcy, she still felt a small need for Alex to do something more but it was manageable. But it was that same feeling that was making her feel weird, because now it wasn't targeting Alex, but Carlos.

"Uh… have you noticed where we are?" Carlos said with total fear and dread as he looked around. "Because…"

"... this is Ryūko's room." Shaundi's face turned pale at the fact they had _fucked_ in Alex's adoptive daughter's room. The threat of a very angry Alpha had all but buried Shaundi's current thoughts on Carlos and the shifting feeling of attraction.

"Dude, we are so dead… Alex is going to kill us at least a hundred times."

* * *

 **Out By The Pool**

Lin was currently throwing up into the Vila's pool. Whatever that stuff Atshushi had given the Hive's partying Gammas was like ten shots of tequila in a normal human body. She had no memory of anything after she had taken the shot, she felt like shit, and she had no clue where her pants where or why she couldn't shapeshift new ones.

"The fuck… was… in… that fucking glass?" Lin grumbled in between vomiting straight Biomass up. Thankfully it was all clean, so no danger of starting a new outbreak. " _Thank god for small mercies_ " she thought.

"Like I'd ever tell any of you." Lin looked up from evacuating her stomach and saw Atshushi standing over her with his hands behind his back. "This way I get _enormous_ blackmail material." He said before sticking a polaroid photo to her forehead and quickly skipping off. Lin glared at the scientist from under the shadow of the photo before ripping it off and flipping it over.

"You little brat, get back here right now!" Lin screamed as she crumpled up the photo of her and Pierce kissing in her hand. She then ran after the escaping blackmailer who kept throwing back photo copies he had in abundance. Normally Lin would have been able to catch the Uninfected human but she was still under the nauseating effects of whatever he had given her.

* * *

 **In Alex's Penthouse**

Alex was currently flipping through the TV channels looking for something that might possibly catch his eye. He was laying back in his penthouse bed with Mileena sleeping at his side, she was currently asleep and he didn't feel inclined to move so he let her stay that way. He felt… off. For one thing he could feel that Shaundi was no longer _his_ in the Hive Mind. It wasn't like someone had claimed her, but it was clear to him that she would likely not respond to him based off instincts. He theorized this meant that an Alpha would need to watch out for others looking to poach from their hive. The sound of that statement was not lost on Alex however he gave no shits over it. If everything was going as it should, then any Evolved under a Alpha shouldn't feel the desire to leave their Alpha regardless of instinct, and if a lesser Evolved wished to be with someone else then the Alpha should let them go. The third law of the hives still stood, if an Alpha truly wanted a lesser for their own then they must claim them.

He could feel that Shaundi had gravitated toward Carlos and again, Alex didn't care one way or the other. If they wanted to be together then so be, if this was just a fluke then fine. Alex had more than enough women on hand for him not to feel even the slightest bit threatened plus he didn't care for such pettiness over something like this.

Other than that… he felt like something totally unexpected had happened. Something related to that previous something was going to happen soon. It was the type of feeling people had and moved on from not thinking they had a life exciting enough to warrant a premonition like this. But Alex did lead a life such as that and knew that he might very well be heading for some type of unpleasant surprise.

"Dad… I'm hungry… make pancakes…" Ryūko moaned as she drudged herself into his room, still very sleepy as she had just woken up.

"No… I don't…. want to get up." Alex retorted like a spoiled five-year-old. It was teasing as he was getting hungry too but just wanted to get a raise out of the girl. She responded by walking over to his bed and ripping off the covers. "Nice try but, nope…." Alex extended out his tendrils to form a new black and red blanket over him and Mileena. When Ryūko tried to take this one it clung to the bed aggressively.

"Come… on… and… get out!" She called out as she violently tugged on the viral sheet.

"Just do as the girl asks, she's your daughter after all." Mileena said as the commotion awoke her.

"Fine… can never do anything." Alex grumbled as he hopped out of the large bed and walked out of his room with Ryūko behind him. As he entered the living room, he waded through the many candy wrappers that lay on the floor. But he stopped as his nose picked up the smell of blood. "Ryūko… go back in my room and wait with Mileena." Alex told his adoptive daughter grimly as he eyed the source of the smell. A cardboard box about the size of a human head. And considering the smell coming from it… that was done on purpose. Ryūko looked up to her adoptive father and noticed that he wasn't the teasing and overly fun figure he normally was, now he had turned totally serious and so she did as asked. Alex waited until he heard the door click behind him He extended several tendrils out and grabbed the box and opened it mid-air. first he pulled out a letter and then a rose woven of red and black Life Fibers. That instantly told him who this came from. The second thing he pulled out was the head of a man he did not recognize in the slightest. "Why would she send you… not an Infected, not a Saint, not someone from Ultor." He then looked over to the letter.

 _Dearest Zeus_

Alex read that over a second time. That told him so much. First off, it told him that Ragyo was currently unaware that Avarice Mercy and Alex Mercer were one in the same. Considering the fact they both share the same initials and sounded relatively the same… said a lot. Second, this was clear attempts at flattery. Of which Alex dismissed completely.

 _Dearest Zeus_

 _While we have yet to meet in person, and I have only had the displeasure of meeting your lessers, I hope this gift can serve to better your view of the glory I could provide you. I do hope that that mongrel of a pet of yours Avarice has not sullied my name with lies too outlandish. We needn't be enemies. Life Fibers and Blacklight, yes, they will clash, and we will see who wins, but you and I are destined to rule together._

 _To hopefully help you see this, I have sent a something of a gift from me to you. The head of a traitor: Dex Jackson. I understand if you find this to be a ruse as the head I had sent to you lacks any markers of the man you must know. However… this man had some_ _very_ _intimate knowledge about Blacklight, The Saints, and Ultor, knowledge that could_ _only_ _come from being inside all three of theses groups. Do not worry, I will only be using what I have learned to crush you and teach you the truth of the glory of Life Fibers._

 _I did learn before the man expired that he was given help by a source he could not name. He was unable to name it because once I had begun questioning him on the subject, the Blacklight creature he arrived with cut his tongue. When I tried to delve into his mind, it killed him before expiring itself. It would seem you are not the only player when it comes to Blacklight. However… do know that you are the only one who I have an eye for dearest Zeus._

 _Your future love and mate for all eternity, Ragyo Kiryuin._

Alex tore the head in his hand in half. The tongue had indeed been cut out, and it had been done by something unnaturally sharp, like a Blacklight blade. The first third of the letter had been utter garbage to Alex, it gave him several idea for going forward on his plans for Revocs and Life Fibers but in the end her words did nothing. He knew what he felt for her, and it was hate. Still… her words gave him ideas, and Alex had found that the best allies were former enemies. So maybe his idea to break Ragyo had more merit to it than just out right killing her. The second third of the letter was… interesting. The claim that head was Dex was unlikely to be true. First off… the man of the head he had just destroyed had been white… Dex was black. The story was so….. weird. But the knowledge nagged in the back of his mind that that Dex had gone missing, and had neither shown up as a Noble nor a Beta to Dane's Hive. So the idea that he had somehow swapped bodies… not _totally_ crazy.

 _How_ he accomplished this was what was making Alex upset. It had to have been whoever is this new party in Blacklight is. As far as he knew… the only people that had access to Blacklight in any capacity was him and Blackwatch. He knew Blackwatch wasn't involved in this, the Blue Line would have warned Alex about that. Plus Blackwatch would make a very unlikely ally to the life Life Fibers as they would see them as a plague or something and see it as their mission to thwart their invasion… and then find ways to exploit them.

"Who… the **fuck** is messing with what isn't theirs?" Alex quietly seethed as the whole of every Hive felt his growing rage over this development.

* * *

Reviews

Notsae – the Sequel will be. And because of logistics and morals. Too much work to rule all of the world and Alex doesn't want to Infect everyone because he still has some moral code

IAmPedobear – Thank you

Rmarcano321 – Redlight… I'm going with because stupid plot reasons. Wyoming. I didn't create her, she was a unseen character in Watch_Dogs 2 and because I needed someone for the cast of the spin off to be on Shogo's side. The Dedsec team is only a natural party and possible allies.

Xalimech – thank you and… sorry but you're going to have to wait.


	43. Eden

Dane finished reading Ragyo's letter to Alex. It was amusing to know she had yet to understand that Avarice and Alex were the same person. While it was true that Alex played up the gangster side of him during the meeting between them, it wasn't that hard of a connection to make. But the rest of the letter interested the CEO greatly.

"So where is this head?" Dane said as he set the letter aside on his newly ordered desk. He and Alex were speaking in his office, his own Praetorian Guard standing at the pillars like statues.

"Gone… I destroyed it. Probably not the best move, I know." Alex said as he leaned back in his chair. The news that Ragyo was seemingly in love with him… or at least the idea of him as Zeus, it really got to him. At first he found it amusing and dismissed it. But then it started to nag at him, which pissed him off at first. Now he was feeling he had an opportunity, means of attack and possible plans that could leverage it.

"She massively overstepped here, _if_ what she says is true. Assuming that head you destroyed was somehow Mr. Jackson then she terminated a valuable asset. Dex was tenacious, and a dangerous player in all of this. To just kill him out of some hope to impress you, wasteful." Dane finished glibly as he motioned back and forth thinking over this new problem. While what he said was true, it didn't mean that Ragyo had been that sloppy since she clearly had interrogated the man before he was killed by his own Blacklight creature. _That_ was another problem that needed to be discussed.

"Ragyo is a problem that can be handled. She gave us more to work with, we now understand more about her. We also know more of what she knows about us, that itself is invaluable information." Alex mused with clear frown on his face, one that wasn't going away anytime soon. "But the shit that this letter brings to us is deeper than Ragyo. For one thing… the last time we saw Dex you had given him two Apples of Evolution. Where. Are. They. Now?" Alex asked dangerously, Dane was buckling under the pressure Alex was exerting in the Hive Mind. The CEO swallowed a bit before straightening his tie as he did when nervous.

"I… I don't know." Dane finished his sentence and was immediately shot in the head sending him reeling to the floor.

"Those Apples contain strains that are the lifeblood of the Hives. If they get into the hands of _anyone_ that understands what they have… we are **fucked**. Beyond anything, we will be fucked so hard that there will be no going back! Exposure will be the least of our worries, if fucking Blackwatch gets their hands on a stable Evolved strain and reverse engineers it then their shithead super-soldiers will look like fucking **CUDDLY PUPPIES**!" Alex snarled as Dane struggled to get back up.

"Both of those Apples were from my own Hive, if someone opens the casing then the nearest human will turn Evolved and I would feel them. Since that hasn't happened we know that wherever they are the casing _hasn't broken_." Dane tried to defend himself.

"That doesn't make me feel better, anyone that knows what they are doing with Blacklight will know not to mess with anything that even remotely looks like a possible biohazard. Which tells me that Ragyo doesn't have the Apples, she would have gloated about that and she would certainly break the casing given how arrogant she is." Cold eyes locked onto the man standing behind the desk.

"This is your ass on the line, Dane. You'd better find those Apples or I will be considering finding a new head of our corporate arm of the Hives." Alex threatened, and from the rage he could feel coming from the Supreme Alpha the CEO knew that it wasn't an idle threat.

"I assure you, once our meeting concludes I will get right on that." He said nervously as he sat back down in his desk, knowing that unless he redeemed himself it might not be his for very long. "What about this other player in Blacklight she mentions, as much as I hate to suggest this… _they_ might be in possession of the Apples." A glare was leveled at Dane and the Alpha thought he might have just signed his own death warrant. The only reason he even said what he said was because he was gambling on the idea that Alex would respect his commitment to finding the facts rather than avoiding a topic for the his own neck's sake.

"That…. is your best lead right now." He said allowing Dane to sigh a bit in relief. "Someone else playing with Blacklight is news to me… right now I have to assume that they are former Blackwatch, maybe former Gentek. Everyone on our side is accounted for." The only people who had worked with the virus were himself, Atshushi, Vahlen, and… Ragland. "So those two places are the only source of people that know about Blacklight in any real capacity."

"I think our biggest problem is how this new player has avoided our notice. Jackson's ally must be working outside Blackwatch, that means they must be on the run and hiding from them as well. The question is how are they doing that while still able to do their research to the point of being able to handle Evolved Strains safely, then also being able to contact Dex, all while engineering their own brand of Blacklight creatures on top of that."

"Way too many questions." Alex sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We need to assign someone to this full time. But we don't have anyone that we can spare. Everyone in my Hive is currently in the public's eye given our new venture into celebritydom. Yours is handling Ultor, but you are still going to work on this when you can." He backed up the order with a small glare. "Shogo, Maero, and the General are all working on their Hives and gangs. As much as I hate to say it… until we have the manpower we are just going to have to simply be happy with just listening for more information rather than seeking it out. Find what happened to those Apples, and if that leads us to this new player than so be it." The boss of the Saints said before getting up from his chair. "Don't fuck up again." He warned before turning into a flock of crows and flying out of the nearby open window.

* * *

"It's so beautiful." Atshushi said as he watched the sight before him. Dramatic tears flowed down his face at his brilliant accomplishment, he had finally done it. He had created a true battle of monsters.

"They are indeed an impressive force." Vahlen said, much more in control of herself. Perhaps it was tempered by a modicum of fear she had for the future of mankind. They both looked out onto the small battlefield that had been set up for this exercise. It was a small replica of an urban setting with the outbreak of New York in mind. From a secure bunker, Atshushi and Vahlen were watching the video feed of several small drones that flew around the battlefield capturing the action on a live feed.

"Just think… I created all of this… I can die now… I can die and I would perfectly fine." He said as he wiped off the tears while Vahlen just rolled her eyes. She then focused on the battle unfolding before them. On the far west side of the battlefield were the Legionaries and the support Constructs' target: a feral Hive Nest. Built to be like the Hives of New York during the outbreak, hordes of mutated Walkers shambled around it while Hunters moved through their ranks. The Nest was quickly growing new birthing pods to grow its Hunter ranks. The surrounding building and roads were completely covered in Viral moss, the environment was quickly becoming toxic and deadly to any normal human as the air and ground were becoming infectious to living beings.

"It would appear that the Legionaries are moving forward, centering their focus on a frontal assault. But I do not see all of their numbers, I see all of the Onagers in the formation however." Vahlen commented as the main screen they were viewing displayed a marching column of Legionary squads, around a hundred individuals marching down the road towards the feral Nests. All spread out at vital points of defense, all of them knowing that their mission was the protection of the larger Blacklight Constructs, the Blacklight Onagers.

They were one of the newer creations that had finally passed into full service with the introduction of the Nerve Servers. They were the Blacklight Rancors that Atshushi had worked so hard on. The Onager designation was for classification purposes, although Atshushi liked to joke that they did it for copyright reasons. The looked almost exactly like their Star Wars movie counterparts, only the heavy bone plates that formed a armor for the creature and the large tusks that grew from the sides of its large jaws set it apart from the source inspiration. Five Onagers lumbered down the road, shepherded by Legionary handlers, three of them carrying prebuilt platforms on their backs each with half a squad of Legionaries that could take advantage of the height and protection provided by the Onager. It had taken quite a bit of training for the Legionaries to properly fire their bio-guns while on top the massive monstrous Construct and even more so while the beast was fighting. But if there was one thing Blacklight was good at it was adapting to new situations. The remaining two Onagers were carrying large cannon batteries on their backs: Three massive guns, two on each shoulder and one above the Construct's head. The guns were operated by a crew of Infected who volunteered to join the growing Blacklight army as support crew and logistical staff. Unlike with the R&D department, Infected were perfect for the role of repetitive jobs like gun crews and handling of supplies. Later it would be made sure the latter job would be overseen by Evolved but for now it was fine.

"They think well in tactics; grand strategy may be beyond their abilities but when it comes to the battlefield they have few equals." Atshushi said, fully serious about his creations' capability. "What they planned I'm not sure maybe they… oh… looks like the ferals have taking notice of the incoming threat." Atshushi said as saw several Hunters begin to leave the horde of Walkers. The two scientists watched as fifteen Hunters charged through the urban roads without any thought of flanking or other complex tactics of their attack. It was charge and kill for these monsters. The attack force of Legionaries saw them coming the second they turned onto the road they were using. The Blacklight Constructs quickly formed a defensive line, Close combat specialists of the various squads lined up in front while those with Bio-guns took positions several steps behind before taking their shots on the incoming Hunters. The meaty hide of the feral Blacklight beings meant that most of the bone-barb rounds of the Legionaries were shrugged off. Those that did do something only slowed down the Hunters, quite a few rounds getting lodged in the creatures' bodies enough for four to stop as they attempted to dig out a few of the sharp and barbed projectiles from their flesh. It didn't matter if the Legionaries had not been able to fully end them at this stage, they had succeeded in dallying four Hunters, thus giving the close combat line a better chance. The Hunters closed in with frightening speed, and as they got closer and the Bio-guns' rounds deadlier they moved even faster. Instinct had begun screaming at the Hunters that they needed to get these other Blacklight creatures bogged down in a fight with teeth and claws rather than letting them continue a fight a range.

"And… they've hit the line." Vahlen stated as they watched five Hunters slam into the line of Legionaries. Three Hunters headed for the outer edges of the line, and the final three circled the melee looking for a chance to get in while avoiding the shots coming from the nearest Onager weapon platform. Those Legionaries that had been firing on the Hunters fell back and began moving to the right and left flanks in hopes of targeting the Hunters from the safety of the nearby buildings, while the ferals were unable to fully move with being in a close combat fight with their Legionary opponents.

"They are taking casualties… the Hunters are mauling them but the second one of them stops to try and eat their kill one of the Legionaries comes and wounds them critically." Atshushi said as he took a few notes on the performance. "They aren't taking nearly as many losses as I thought we might see, but the range specialists are the real stars here."

"Yes I concur, this is good given that any foe they might face will likely be a modern military. Still, that means a need for good ranged units remains in order to stay on par with professional soldiers."

"Yeah… about that." Atshushi said as he looked away from the battle. "You haven't heard the rumors that there might be another faction of Blacklight. So CQC might be a big need in the future." He said causing Vahlen to think on this new information. They both returned to the viewscreens where the Legionaries were finishing off the last remaining Hunters. "... and with that, the first skirmish is finished. The data is already coming in and it is looking like it confirms our theory that the Legionaries, while flexible in ability, are more predisposed to range and modern squad based tactics. Their skills when it comes close combat is certainly above normal human levels, but against Blackwatch super soldiers and other Blacklight Constructs built for close range they would be found lacking."

"I was hoping for the opposite. I have a plan for a fully long range dedicated construct, one made for covering fire and limited sniper capability. But this data, it doesn't mean my idea is scrapped but it means that we are going to need something to keep enemies at a preferable length. The Legionaries can handle Close Combat just fine so long as they have the numbers."

"Perhaps war dogs, packs of fast moving canine-like creatures that can be sent out in front of a battle line." Vahlen suggested.

"That could work, but I think I'm going to take a look at the Legionary Strain and see if there might be a problem. I feel like they should be better than they performing." They continued to talk about the issue and take notes until they saw that the Legionaries had reached the Hive Nests. "They really don't have the numbers here, if they didn't have the Onagers to protect then they would move into the nearby buildings. The tight spaces would be far more advantageous for them. They might be lacking when it comes to fighting a pack of Hunters out in the open, But give them a death funnel and a horde of Walkers and they get damn results."

"Yes, I saw the data on their ability in this regard. The short length of their bone sword allows for maximum movement in tight spaces." They watched as the horde of Walkers began moving toward the battalion of Legionaries. The Hunters that were still in the horde were the first to reach the newly formed battle line. This time the Hunters' lacked the numbers the last pack had as they only amounted to six. The Legionaries were able to handle four out of the six by the time the Walker Horde had reached the battle line. And that was when the Legionaries pulled back and let loose a torrent of fire on the horde from a squad of Legionaries equipped with Blacklight Flamethrowers. The horde of Walkers stopped as a wall of flame engulfed many of their front numbers. Then the horde buckled even further as both their right and left flanks were assaulted with more flamethrower attacks from the squads that had flanked around before the first skirmish.

"There we have those missing units. Smart boys." Atshushi chuckled as they started their attack on the nest themselves. With the horde of Walkers being takin care of, the Onagers began their firing on the Nest. "... and with that the battle is done, excellent work and good data collected."

* * *

Ryūko blankly stared out the side of Alex's car, a jet black La Fuerza with silver trim and Saints purple leather on the inside. It was causing quite the commotion around the local elementary school, seeing as this was Stilwater and everyone knew whose car it was. This was going to be Ryūko's first day at school, she had finally reached the point where she could keep up with her grade-level and so her adoptive father decided that it was time for her to enter into public school. Stilwater's public school system had vastly improved with the unofficial rule of the Saints gang to the point people considered the public schools on par with highly well-funded private schools. Stilwater's High School even renamed itself Julius Little Memorial High School.

"Well… are you getting out or not?" Alex said as he poked Ryūko's cheek causing her to fuss and push his hand away.

"Stop that… I just… I never went to a school before."

"It's fine, just make friends and learn new things. That's what school is for, you really don't need to worry so much… considering your temper and tendency for punching jerks in the face. I'm sure that I'll be in the principle's office in less than a week, and I've already got _allllllllllll_ the bribes ready." He said reassuringly, as if that chain of events would make him immensely proud. Which it would. In all honesty however he really did want Ryūko to have a decent school life and to at least learn a few things.

"Gee… thanks for the vote of confidence dad." Ryūko deadpanned but in the back of her mind she understood.

"No problem… now… get out." He said before the door opened and he shoved the girl out. "Have fun and try not to burn the place down!" He quickly said before peeling out of the dropoff circle. Ryūko stared at the speeding car, her face showing total shock as to her adoptive father's actions, though internally she knew that she should have expected it. She turned her head back at the school, a sense of foreboding coming over her as she felt a sudden desire to punch someone.

* * *

Dane pored over the intelligence reports and limited notes he had on the subject of his work. He had met Dex and given him two Apples of Evolution, at which point he had been an Infected utterly incapable of betraying the Hives. That was the last time anyone had seen Dex, he simply disappeared for a time and then dropped out of the Hive Mind completely. Infected were perfectly capable of taking their own life, Blacklight's sense of self-preservation was tricky that way since Infected and Uninfected alike were instinctually just mobile and workable Biomass, easily recyclable upon death.

So when Dane had first noticed that Dex had disappeared from the Hive Mind, he had just thought he had just taken the coward's way out. It seemed like Dex could have very easily seen eating the end of a gun as one last "fuck you" to Alex.

But now, things haven't played out like they should have been. Dane had completely forgot about the Apples, busy as he was with the near collapse of Ultor. Turning everyone of any real importance into simple Infected was a catastrophic mistake, and in the months that followed it turned to utter chaos as the Infected Executives were not nearly as effective as they had been before becoming such. Dane had been doing damage control and trying to find people within Ultor that actually knew what they were doing was tough. He was nearly able to find a few people to turn into Evolved, none of them Betas as he felt that position was reserved for truly trustworthy individuals. He had offered Dex the Beta strain simply because Dex was outstandingly capable for the job, not because he was trustworthy.

And so during all that chaos Dane had missed out the glaring problem that two Apples represented. They were now missing and he had no means to find them. Worse, they could very well be in the hands of some third party. Dane wasn't foolish enough of think that this third party was Ragyo, it had to be some unknown.

"Jamie! Bring in the air traffic control reports for the eastern coast airports. Oh and the surveillance footage for the corresponding airports… Jamie?" Dane said as he looked up from his work. He looked around and noticed that his Gamma was missing from his side. "Jamie?" Dane stood up from desk and looked around his spacious office looking to try and find his secretary.

"Alpha, your Gamma is not in the room." One of Dane's Praetorian Guard informed him causing the corporate Alpha to sigh. He then reached out into the Hive Mind and asked for Jamie to return to him. He was met with silence, no confirming emotion returned. Dane switched to viral vision and looked around only to find Jamie two floors below. He focused on her and once again was met with silence.

"That is not normal." Dane mumbled as formed his Bio-claws, deadly barbed limbs shifting from his suit jacket's sleeves. Something was off and he wasn't about to give anything a chance to catch him off guard. He had screwed up once already and so he wasn't about to have anything else happen under his watch. He moved though his office with four of his guards following behind him. They all descended to the floor where he had seen his Gamma standing. The level they were on was one of Ultor's servers, much of the mega-company's data passed through this level and the Saints had begun to use it as well.

"Jamie… what are you doing here?" Dane's tone was his normal casual ego driven tone but it was a mask for the hostile paranoia that was building inside of him. The Alpha and his Construct guards all moved between the towers of servers that lined the floor. The sound of someone typing away was heard and soon Dane saw his Gamma as she typed away on a terminal at one of the servers.

"Alpha… the form of your Gamma…"

"Yeah… I see it." Dane said as he shifted into his Viral form at the sight of his secretary's twisted form. Her lower face had been covered in Blacklight tissue creating a rictus smile with dozens of teeth. The tissue ran up behind her head where its talons grasped the back of her skull and dug into her ears, the parasite creature's body continuing down the secretary's neck and coiling around her body. Small black lifeless eyes formed out of the tissue as well as the clenching talons that dug into her body.

"Mr. Vogel…" A voice murmured inside Dane's head as Jamie's covered face turned to him. "… so sorry to use your employee like this. But I needed to borrow… no, that is the wrong term… I cannot borrow what I don't intend to return in the proper condition."

"And just who are you?" Dane asked but he was assuming it was the same person that had contacted Dex and likely stolen the Apples of Evolution. "I'm guessing the third party to Blacklight. Given that you're puppeteering my Gamma through this… thing… I assume that to be the case."

"So you know about me… you shouldn't." the voice tried to hide the shock and grinding irritation it felt at that. "Does Zeus know of me and my actions perchance?"

"We know that you did something to Dex Jackson and currently have two items of vast importance to us." Dane carefully said, only giving away versions of those events and not their actual nature in case he was wrong. The Voice was silent and Jamie continued to stare at Dane. Her eyes were totally lifeless and devoid of anything resembling thought. Their blankness gave Dane the idea of cameras with the only purpose of sending back images to a real set of eyes.

"I…. see…" The voice responded, and whether by mistake of shock or anger Dane was able to gather that it was giving away something, that the actions Dane had stated were not the only actions that it had taken against the Hives, and that it now had confirmation of exactly what the level of exposure had been. "If Zeus knows that much then I guess there is little point in hiding. Let me be clear in my intentions, I find Zeus' view of Blacklight to be insulting. Blacklight is not something that should hide in the shadows, it is a virus… it must spread and find as many hosts as possible. But what sets it apart from a normal virus or plague… is that it creates something new once it does so. It does not destroy but creates wonders beyond human understanding. Which is why my vision for Blacklight differs from his. I seek for it to grow… and **grow** until this world itself is a paradise of creation, a new Garden of Eden. So that is what you may call me… Eden."

"Well Eden… what are you really doing here besides monologuing? Never mind, you're not even really here. You're just puppeteering my Gamma." Dane growled.

"You find what you see upsetting… then I hope you find what you are about to see a threat." In an instant, the talons that were stuck into Jamie's skin dug deeper with a sickening crack and the Gamma fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The lifeless eyes that covered the parasite then burst and streams of acid poured from their sockets onto the body.

"Jamie… that fucking bastard!" Dane yelled as he moved toward the body just as the acid had begun its work.

"Alpha… she is no more. She has been snuffed from the Hive Mind." One of his Praetorian Guard informed him as he stood over the liquefying body of his Gamma.

"Get Alex here right now… we need to hunt this bastard down now… **Go!** " Dane ordered and with a quick bow one of the four left to do just that.

* * *

It had named itself as Yōkai. That had been a word that appeared in the memories of those it had consumed, not all, but most. It didn't comprehend much of the memories it saw through eating the humans, but it understood the words and images that resonated with feelings of fear and dread. That is what it had been bred to induce and create, fear and dread.

The sounds of fresh meat and gore being played with and ripped apart echoed through the air ducts as it dug through the latest body it had carried to its current den. It had recently gained enough independent thought to start preferring certain pieces of the body over others. But it ate what it didn't like first, all must be consumed and several of the humans it had eaten had the bright idea to first eat what they didn't prefer of a meal so they could finish with what they did. Yōkai followed this advice and found it to be wise.

It let out a low growl as it placed it's victim's right arm up to its mouth to let its feeders do their job. Barbed tubes shot from its muzzle and began filling the severed appendage with acid, dissolving the bones and allowing the Blacklight Horror to eat the arm whole.

Yōkai alone had survived the purging of its kin. It had done so because when they had been released into their hunting grounds Yōkai had delved deep into the building and waited. It hurt to ignore instinct and hurt even more not to feed. But it had paid off, it alone had lived while its kin had died by the hand of the woman in white. How it hated that human, not because it had killed the other Horrors, Yōkai and the other Horrors only saw each other as competition in both hunting and favor from the Alpha. No, Yōkai hated the woman in white because she had humiliated its Alpha.

" **Al… Alpha…** " It growled as it threw the rest of its dinner to the side. Its thoughts had turned its appetite sour. It looked back to the remains and in one swift move lowered itself to the ground and scooped up the body with its mouth and began eating it whole. " **Al… Alpha… serve… hunt… hunt the… hunt the human…** " It was about to give out a screech to bring fear and dread to any human within earshot, but then it heard something echoing through the vents… it sounded like a human yelling something. It caused Yōkai to pause… because it wasn't a scream of terror. It knew every fearful tone, every frightened gasp and syllable a human could make, but this one's pitch was different and so it lacked the understanding of basic human emotion to know that these were cries of passion and pleasure.

But the Blacklight Construct had been intrigued. Or at least wanted to know if it was mistaken and these were in fact screams of terror, in which case it wanted to know the cause. It moved through the labyrinth of vents, careful not to make a sound as it wasn't looking to give away its position at the moment. It noticed that it was going upwards… to the top of this hunting ground, to the office of the woman in white. It moved silently through the ducts and soon came upon the the woman that had beaten its Alpha. When Yōkai looked through the slats of the vent, it found that it _was_ her that was screaming, but no one else was in the room. There wasn't anything scary or terrifying to cause this reaction… at least that was the case to the Horror's limited understanding. It then saw the image displayed above the woman's desk, it was Blackwatch helmet cam footage of his Alpha on a bloody rampage. There he was, destroying tanks, cutting Hunters in half, and killing lots and lots of Blacklight Zombies and Blackwatch soldiers alike. Now Yōkai understood why this woman was screaming… it was because she was watching the greatness and sheer horrifying power that was the Supreme Alpha in action.

* * *

Reviews

Xalimech – thank you

Helkil – none… she's like five.

IAmPedobear – thank you

Notsae – yes… it is… but Alex only has so much morals to go around. Plus war is fun for immortal super beings.

Pedrofaria339 – thank you for reviewing

LORD DESTRYUK – Blackwatch has a part to play… I have plans, and Blackwatch will be taking S.T.A.G place. Just gave away my plan… huh.

Rmarcano321 – 1. because… why not? 2-3. Atshushi gave them a cocktail of hormones and various chemicals that overcharged the Evolveds' senses and created a state of intoxication comparable to being shit face drunk. 4. Because Ragyo is arrogant and makes stupid choices based on pride and feelings. 5. Because drunk people make poor choices and many mistakes.


	44. To the Future we Make

Author's notes.

Okay… this will be the last chapter before we have a nine year time skip. During which the following spin offs will occur, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, Watch_Dogs, and Kill La Kill. I will be writing these soon and publishing them before I continue with the main story. Sorry to everyone but this story will be going on hiatus for the time being. Do know that I plan on having these stories be at max 150k words so it won't be the epic length this one will be. Kill La Kill might be more but I'm not sure. I also will be making a Codex Story for Blacklight and all of its shit.

Second, I want to confirm something that many of you have figured out or just told you. The sequel to this story will be Warhammer 40k crossover. And 40k is already included into the ethos of this story.

Thank you to all that have been supporting this story and I hope that I will see many of you in the spin offs.

* * *

"This… voice called itself Eden right?" Alex asked as he circled the puddle of Biomass that was once Jamie. Dane was standing a bit away and couldn't bring himself to look at was once his Gamma. Atshushi was in a hazmat suit and taking samples from the goo while Vahlen had already left after making a sweep for any lingering psychic connection.

"Yes, I didn't recognize the voice from anyone I know. But from the way it talked it seemed to know us. At least, in some personal manner." Dane offered.

"Personally… huh… that is upsetting. But now we have a idea of what they can do. That, and we have a name. A fake one, but a name."

"You said Jamie was covered in some sort of parasite, right?" Atshushi asked from inside his hazmat suit as he stood up.

"Yeah, it covered her face and dug into her body and head at multiple points." Dane's voice tried to remain professional as it described the gruesome events.

"Is it possible that she was already dead prior to being exposed to this parasite?"

"No, she was still in the Hive Mind right up until the Voice finished her off. But she…. she was silent, totally unresponsive."

"I see… were you able to notice if…"

"Can we please do this some other time?!" Dane snapped at Atshushi continued questioning. "I just… I need some time…" Dane said as he started walking away, but his path was blocked by an arm like a steel girder.

"We need you to do this _now_ , while it is still fresh." Alex said coldly. His eyes glared at Dane who was glaring right back, the only difference being that Dane showed a fire of anger in his while his boss' remained dead and distant. Atshushi watched as the two Alphas performed their staring match trying his best not to make a single motion. "Atshushi… ask your question."

"Uh… did you uh… notice if it was the parasite making the body move or if it was Jamie? We need to know if this thing controls the body or the mind." Atshushi explained as he remained trying to stay as small as he could.

"Every time she moved, one of the claws that dug into her twitched." He said before shoving past. Alex watched as he walked away until he turned out of sight. The Supreme Alpha then turned back to the very scared scientist.

"So uh… it controls the body. That's probably better than the alternative. Yay…" Atshushi said trying to placate Alex. But from the look on his face it was clear that he wasn't in the mood. "Okay… I'm guess you're going to want some form of counter to this type of control right?"

"Are you able to do it?" Alex said after nodding.

"I don't know, I mean… other than telling people to be on guard from now on and to be careful around people that have gone silent in the Hive Mind, there isn't much to do. We don't know anything about this parasite Eden used on Jamie. I have no idea what kind of strains he used. Hell, I don't even know how he's getting his Strains in the first place. The Fountain strain is one of the most closely guarded of all of our assets. He might have his own version… there are just too many unknown variables." Atshushi explained.

"I hate this…" Alex groaned as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "… I've hated this since the second I read that letter Ragyo sent me. I don't like having peers not under my thumb, and this Eden, what he wants for Blacklight it could be disastrous."

"My question is why hasn't he just dropped a load of unstable Blacklight in a populated center on the mainland. If the New York outbreak had happened anywhere else I don't think Blackwatch would be able to clean it up as thoroughly as they did. If it was a deliberate outbreak not run by someone like Greene, who never really thought coherently enough to pull it off, and it was on the mainland… then 'viral apocalypse' here we come."

"It is likely us, he's trying to race against us in terms of power. Yes, he could just cause an outbreak, but _we_ could come in and take control. If he's at all connected to the Hive Mind then he would lose in a battle of the wills over the Newborn Hive with me. If he had any real chance of holding out against me then I would have noticed that strong of a presence in the Hive Mind."

"He's trying to build his own viral army to match our own… that great!" Atshushi cheered. "Soon… _very soon,_ my creations will have a worthy adversary in battle…" Atshushi began chuckling madly at the thought. He was imagining the idea of two Viral armies in open combat. He still needed to perfect many of his creations and to make more types, but the idea of them finally being used for their true purpose was something he fantasized about.

"Kid…. please tell me you aren't going to look for a fight. Because I would want to end as quietly as possible." Alex _said_ this, but he also wanted to see his Viral Legions in battle. Despite that, he still needed to think about the future of the Hives as a whole, and while the idea of two clashing Viral Construct armies was fucking awesome… he knew that it could never be concealed. All of his people would be exposed and then hunted. Because the facts of the matter was they were grossly outnumbered, outgunned, and Alex still held some morals like not wanting to send virus-laden cluster bombs out into the world.

"Yeah… I won't." Atshushi pouted. "It's just… I want to see some fighting that isn't against stupid ferals. I mean we have the upcoming war with the Life Fibers yeah, and we could always go find some horde undead or something…"

"What?!" Alex snapped his head back towards the scientist at that remark.

"Oh yeah… I forgot to mention that Vahlen told me that there are Vampires out in the world and they can make supernatural zombies as opposed to Blacklight Walkers. The Illuminati keeps track of about a little over fifty sanctioned Vampires across the globe, but there are apparently a ton more out there." Atshushi said, totally unfazed by this new revelation to Alex.

"Rrrrrgh, and I thought we were done with bullshit fiction turning out to be true. Okay… if living clothes can be real then Vampires aren't that big of a stretch." Alex breathed for a moment. "Are these 'Vampires going to be a threat to us?"

"Nah… Vahlen says that Vampires are like a psychic virus. She doesn't think Vampires will be able to become Evolved, or Infected for that matter. Where Life Fibers are a unified threat, Vampires are more like spread-out singularities each with their own goals. While some of the more powerful ones might pose an irritation, it is a good bet to say they won't be a problem."

"... Do they sparkle?"

"No… they are more from the horror genre of vampires."

"They could be fun right?" Alex said with a savage grin.

"Oh yeah. Coincidentally, Vampirism does much of the same things Blacklight does, it changes a person's biology into higher state of living, immortality, the requiring of a type of biological food source, the ability to create legions of zombies and change a person's soul, that kind of stuff. So Vampires and Blacklight share many of the same traits, but Vampires are far more dependent on the whole psychic thing rather than Blacklight's leaning towards biology."

"Are there any other surprises I should made aware of?"

"Aliens?"

"Oh come on, I knew that was coming based on statistics alone." Alex waved before he left to think over this new development.

* * *

Ragyo was looking over the latest reports from her R&D department. Things had been growing ever more interesting since she had killed that whelp of a man Dex Jackson. The information he had given before his death had been of great value, and his body was a host of treasures. It had been riddled with tiny Blacklight creatures, none of which the man knew about. _He_ was quite convinced that he was clean, but her dissection of him had proven otherwise.

Now, those same creatures were helping her research. She needed to know more about Blacklight in any capacity. Her plans prior to learning of Blacklight had changed only slightly upon learning of the existence of the Hives. Before she simply only knew of Blacklight as some super virus that had destroyed New York. But now it held the promise of so much more, the power wielded through rewriting cells down at the genetic level with such ease if a bit unpredictably. It needed to be handled with care, or else she was sure there to be more irritations like the cockroach that was still infesting her home. Unbeknownst to her, that same _Cockroach_ was currently watching her through the vents.

She knew that Blacklight could never be tamed to her and Life Fiber's will, not with the strange shell it had around the minds of those Infected with it. Two of her men were exposed to the virus and she tried to control them with a bit of mind stitching, but just like with Avarice her threads broke the second they began to wrap around the target's mind. Something in the Hive Mind kept her power from exerting her will upon them.

"Blacklight holds such possibility. This could be the true future for Life Fibers and myself." Ragyo said as she watched a video of one of her research teams experimenting with reverse engineered Blacklight traits. Something the woman did not notice was her small separation between herself and Life Fibers, a gulf that was growing day by day ever since her meeting with the Evolved. Unbeknownst to her, a small quantity of Blacklight had entered her system when Alex's violent reaction to the Life Fibers dispersed the virus into the air. The majority of them had been destroyed upon entering the Life Fiber/Human Hybrid's body, but not all. Those few had reached her brain and had begun their work on sabotaging the connection between her and the psychic will behind the Life Fibers.

Ragyo stopped her reading at the sound of the door to her office opening. She looked up and saw her assistant walking through holding a rather large box. "What is it Homura, something for me?" She wasn't aware of anything of note coming for her.

"It is apparently from Ultor, it is marked as gift to you lady Ragyo." That made the woman smile as he was more than likely a response to her own little gift to Zeus.

"Very good, place it on my desk and then please leave. If I know Zeus like I know I do, it is likely accompanied with more than a few _unpleasant_ surprises." Homura bowed and left the room as instructed. The CEO of Revocs looked at the large unassuming box for a moment, then sliced open the top with a razor-thin Life Fiber extruded from her finger.

Instantly she could smell the assortment of poisons enter the air, everything ranging from nerve gas to airborne radioactive polonium. "Well played my darling, I'd expect nothing less." She smirked as the opened box revealed another slightly smaller box and a letter on top of that. As she took the letter, more deadly toxins infused in the note floated towards her, including botulinum and poison arrow frog toxin, and a faint whiff of apples drifted from the paper. "Manchineel, the most poisonous tree in the world, an inspired choice." A normal human's hands would be burning with blisters, but to Ragyo it was just his way of being a ruthless and effective rival Apex being. In the letter was a web address. She placed the letter off to the side for the moment. She then opened the next box and found that it contained quite the variety of things. First there was a small plushy toy of Zeus, complete with the same scowl and cold eyes… only in cute toy form.

"My name is Alex Mercer. They call me a killer. I am. They call me a monster. I am. They call me walking death… I am all of these things and so much more." The small toy said once Ragyo curiously squished it a bit. The actual recorded voice of Zeus sent shivers down the woman's spine. She set the toy aside and began going through the other items sent to her, most of it garbage Saints Brand paraphernalia.

"Junk… the lot of this. Only _this_ seems to be worth anything." Ragyo smiled as she placed the Zeus plushy away from the rest before destroying it all in a flash. She then looked to the letter and entered the web address into her computer. The screen flashed purple with a strange logo in the center. It was the white Ultor ring, and inside was a red biohazard symbol with the tips connecting to the Ultor logo while extending red veins into the white of the ring. At the center of the red biohazard symbol was a white fleur-de-lis. The screen then changed to video call to a plain and unassuming office. In front of her was an empty chair and desk, she waited for a moment and just as she was getting a little irritated she saw… **him**.

"So you're Ragyo… can't say I'm happy to be meeting you like this. Much rather it be me and your head on a spike." She watched as Alex Mercer, Zeus, entered the view of the screen and sat down in the chair, slightly relaxed as if this was far beneath his care. In her opinion it was… perfectly how she thought he would act. It was as he should be, incredibly powerful and without an ounce of fear towards anything. Even if he _should_ fear the power of Life Fibers.

"Sweet Zeus, it hurts me to hear such things." She said with a confident smile on her lips. From beneath his hood, a small tug at his scowl was all the reaction she found.

"If at all possible would you refrain using that name. I am not too fond of it." He sighed before looking off to the side. "I know you want to bitch to her… no you can't… get over it, _you_ lost." She assumed he was speaking to Avarice. It made her so happy to hear that thug was still upset at his crushing defeat by her hands. "Anyways, I granted you this little chat between us to understand three things. One, the person you claim as Dex Jackson you are sure this was him. Because the head you sent us was not the Dex we knew." Alex stated with only a bit of emotion of anger at recalling his former ally.

"He introduced himself as such, and does it truly matter? After all, he gave such sweet information before he expired, information that I will be using to great effect." She threatened seductively.

"I see, and did this man have on him strange looking apples… don't respond. Your face gives it away." He said as he leaned back.

"I believe you are mistaken dear Alex, for I pride myself on my ability to remain unreadable."

"Nah, it wasn't when I spoke about the apples, it was when you reacted to my saying I got the answer from you. If you had them, then you would have reacted to _that_ rather than me calling on your poker face." He said as he held a small grin on his face. "So, I know what I need to know."

"I would have told you the truth regardless. I have no need to lie to you. I am above such petty tricks."

"Third." He said glossing over her completely causing a bit of irritation to Ragyo. She had found his aloofness charming and fitting for him but now he was just brushing her off completely. "Are you sure that he had Blacklight creatures with him, and if he did would you care to describe them?" He asked, without a hint of courtesy in his voice. Ragyo closed the site that second.

"It would seem, Zeus, that you are in need of some manners." Ragyo grumbled before standing up to find someone to clean her computer of any virus that might have been sent.

* * *

"Well… that was fun." Alex said as he glared at the blank screen. " _I may have pushed it a bit too far on the stone cold bastard thing. Oh well… I got more than I thought I would out of her._ " He thought to himself as he stood up from the desk, just some bland cubicle in the Ultor building. He didn't want to give Ragyo any more information about him than needed.

"So how'd it go boss?" Carlos asked as Alex stepped out of the borrowed cubical and the two began their walk out of the building.

"Good enough for me to know a few things. We know that Ragyo does not in fact know about the Apples of Evolution. I also know that she still has no fucking clue that Avarice Mercy is just a stage name. I intend to keep it that way."

"So what's our next move?"

"Nothing for now, we wait and watch. For us right now it would be better to react rather than act. Ultor is doing its part in keeping Revocs from completing its goal and we can do our part in moving against Ragyo and Life Fibers should they provoke us." Alex took a second to stretch a bit before the two exited the building. "If all goes to plan we should be in a Cold War with the Life Fibers, maybe one of us will make a move and then the other will, tit for tat for a while."

"You don't seem in that much of a hurry to get your revenge." Carlos commented as they both stepped into a waiting limo, a bunch of screaming fans had gathered outside the Ultor building when someone had leaked that they were there. The Saints growing popularity as celebrities had caused this to start happening more and more, and thus Alex and the other Evolved needed to start taking conventional means of transportation. They could no longer fly through the air with so much attention on them.

"We are Viral beings Carlos, we tend to live for a long-ass time. We can wait, and Revocs isn't nearly as big of a threat as the Life Fibers are. We just need to keep an eye on them." Alex said as he smiled at the sight out the door, mostly to the various women shamelessly flashing the limo. "Besides… I have come to a decision concerning the whole thing. I think it would be best for Ryūko to be the one to end this whole thing." Alex said as he slouched back in his seat.

"Really, you think that would be a good idea. I mean… you lost to…" Carlos stopped at the glare he was getting from Alex.

"Not now you moron. I have spies in Revocs and Japan… not as many as I would like given Life Fibers stopping me at most places. But I do have them… and they have given me a few ideas on her plans. There's a very particular one that I think would be perfect for Ryūko to use as a means to enter the fight."

"You don't really have a problem sendin' your daughter off into a fight that could kill her." There wasn't any accusation in Carlos' tone, just a statement of curiosity.

"It won't, she'll have support from the Hives, Ultor, and the Saints. And it isn't like she'll be going in without us stepping up to help her be as ready as possible. Besides… this is far more her fight than it ever was for me. Family drama and all that. I'll be there at the end to take down Ragyo but the rest should be handled by someone with far more of a personal stake."

"But… you haven't told her she has any personal connection to it. You haven't told her about anything… Revocs, Life Fibers, Ragyo or even the truth around her _padre_. Do you plan on telling her… at all?"

"No… these are things that she should find out on her own."

"You do realize that is a terrible idea. I mean, that's like Plot Trope 101, you holdin' back key information and her later finding out about it and feeling betrayed." Carlos pointed out.

"You forget what happens after that, the hero grows stronger for it." The Gamma didn't look at all convinced. "Listen… I have my reasons, I will tell her about the Life Fibers, and I'll tell her about the fact her father has been spending all his time trying to fight them, that we are fighting Revocs… but... not who her mother is. That is one thing I can't reveal."

"Fine… I get it boss. Just don't complain when it blows up in your face."

"And what happens when something blows up in my face, I adapt, evolve, and grow stronger."

* * *

"Hey check out this trick I taught Julius." Gat said before throwing a pear slice that Aisha had brought for the baby as a healthy snack. Said baby's father tossed the pear slice over to the Natural and the baby quickly snatched it out of the air with his Viral teeth. "That's my boy!" Gat cheered as Atshushi tried his hardest to hide his laughter while Aisha just glared at her Mate.

"Impressive response and recognition, very good for a child this young." Vahlen said as she looked over the child, unknowing and uncaring that she had just saved Gat a small talking to. Atshushi after a small cough to regain composure nodded and continued their examination of Julius. It was no longer the tension-filled check ups that occurred when Aisha was still carrying the child but now they were more for checking of the first Natural's growth and general health.

"The kid still is growing faster than normal human kids, at least a factor of two." Atshushi said as he measured the child's body. "How has development progressed in the Hive Mind?" He said turning back to the parents.

"Just the same as always, he floats around us. One time he wandered around over to a few Infected but he still came back." Aisha answered, while she still was a bit cold to Alex she had done her best to return a bit of warmth to the rest of the Hive.

"And during this time, what was the physical state of the child?" Vahlen asked as she wrote down a few things on her notes.

"Normal… a bit out of it though. He wasn't really paying attention to us." Aisha once again answered.

"I see." She said as she walked over to one of the several terminals that lined the examination room. "Currently you have been raising the child as normal human parents would correct?"

"Yeah… play with the kid for a while and then put him in front of the TV when we want to…" Gat then looked down to Aisha and decided to correct his wording. "… have some alone time. " Gat glared at Atshushi who was chuckling at his barring of creative language.

"And how does he respond to cartoons, does he even stay and watch the little puny humans dance and try to teach a lesson of some kind?" Atshushi asked, still not feeling that anyone really took the threat of the Naturals as seriously as they should. He agreed that it wasn't Pariah-level bad but the neural chemistry of the Naturals was something worth being concerned about.

"He laughs, he pays attention. Nothing out of the ordinary." Aisha shrugged.

"Well, we will see how that changes once he starts talking and thinking." Atshushi said as he took the baby off the table and into the hands of his mother.

* * *

Alex was sipping beer off at the side of his pool. Right now he was thinking over the various threats that he faced, and he had narrowed them down to three primary foes, the Life Fibers, Blackwatch, and this Eden.

Life Fibers would be handled by the efforts of his daughter. She needed her own trial of will, some part of her life to prove herself to him, the world, and her. The New York Outbreak was his, this would be hers. She would have a lot of support from him and her biological father's little group, but she still needed to do it on her own merits. Other than that it would be a glorious campaign should it get the point of open warfare.

Blackwatch on the other hand was a whole other matter. They officially were still part of the Illuminati but if Jax was to be believed that was subject to change. Still, even without the support of the grand puppet masters of the world, Blackwatch still was an immense threat. They knew how to kill Virals, it was their job, and they had huge numbers and massive amounts of resources at their command. A war with them was not a war that could be done in the shadows like with the Life Fibers. Both sides would be exposed, that much would happen within the first opening salvos of the war. Which meant that Alex had to address Blackwatch carefully, becoming celebrities adored by the masses would certainly help, then he would need to engineer Blackwatch taking first blood. It would need to be public, gory, and horrendous to any sane man. This would make Blacklight the victim. But for right now Alex didn't need to make this move, he didn't need the war, he needed to let his Hives grow and expand.

Eden would require much more thought. He needed more information, any information on the person, and the second Alex felt the had enough… he would annihilate this usurper. He would not suffer rivals in any form, but this enemy was capable of taking over the bodies of Evolved, and how this was done was another thing he needed to know. The level of understanding of Blacklight needed to achieve this power was only matched by Alex's own. Only someone from Gentek or Blackwatch could be Eden's secret identity. They were the only places where someone might learn enough to have level of ability with Blacklight. He wanted to settle this quietly and from the shadows, but from what Dane said it was very likely that Eden wasn't of the same opinion.

"To create a new Garden of Eden… but Blacklight. That doesn't sound too bad." Alex said as he took a long sip from his glass. "But in a controlled location… maybe Mars." He said as he looked up to the sky and began thinking about leaving Earth and settling the red planet. "Nah… net connection would be god awful. And I will **not** go without my HBO."

"Thinking about the future of the Hives again?" Mileena asked as she and Gat walked over to their Alpha. "We heard what happened to Dane and his Gamma… people are getting a bit concerned over this."

"He ain't turning Eesh' into one of those fuckin' puppets. I'll rip this Eden fucker a new asshole before he even thinks about doing that." Gat growled at the thought of his Mate turning out like Jamie.

"No, that is definitely not happening anytime soon." Alex said as he sat up from his lawn chair and shifted into his street clothes. "Eden made a mistake coming out, he should have just stayed in whatever hole he dug himself. But we are going to find it and flood it with acid. Let this fucker die some horrible boring death."

"That sounds pretty damn cool boss, but first we need to find the bastard."

"The area around Stilwater is so disrupted in the Psychic Plane by Blacklight's mere presence that it is impossible to locate him by back tracking the control signal he used for Dane's Gamma." Mileena said as she had just gotten back from a meeting with Vahlen on the subject.

"Which means we have diddly-dick in terms of leads. Fuck… I hate that he holds all the cards here." Alex sighed before taking another sip from his booze. "Okay… here's what we are going to do. Continue our plans, nothing has changed other than we have another enemy to watch out for. Life Fibers and Blackwatch we can handle, we know where they are and they have clear motives and plans. Eden… all we know is that he has Blacklight shit that we can't control and he wants to turn the whole world into a Blacklight wonderland of horror… and just when were _you_ going to tell me that there are fucking _vampires_ out there?" Alex said turning to Mileena.

"There are lots of crazy things in this world that hide from the eyes of the masses."

"What else could there be?! Fucking Mexican wrestlers with grenade launchers and dildo bats? Is that what comes next in this world that seems to be getting crazier by the minute?"

* * *

Author's Notes

Okay…. So that's the last of Viral Saints for a while. In a few days we should have the first of the Dexter Crossover, Viral Monsters, up. I will also be putting up a Codex story and I've been thinking about setting up a Forum for people to post their ideas on Blacklight stuff for the story.

So I hope to see everyone in the spin off. Later and I hope I can handle the Spin offs quick enough to get back to the main story.

Reviews

Amvmaster – yup…

IAmPedobear – thank you and sorry that this is the end for a while. I hope you enjoy the spin offs as much you have the main story. And sorry about leaving Ryūko's school time out of the chapter, we will just have to wait for Kill La Kill.

Helkil – probably, I will keep adding shit, unless people tell me not to. And I have no clue who that is.

Notsae – I do have plans for a goof spin off series for waaaaay into the future called Alex Mercer Screws with the Multiverse. But that's a long way out from now. As for Ragland, he has a huge complex around Alex… his thoughts on the idea of the future are… not for sane minds. Ragland doesn't do a outbreak because of the reasons said in this chapter. Alex is still the Supreme Alpha of all of Blacklight, Ragland can only use a limited number of strains that don't respond to the Hive Mind as normal ones do when dealing directly with Alex. SR3 will have more Ragland VS Alex. And Yōkai will be a bigger thing in the Kill La Kill spin off.

LORD DESTRYUK – yup… SR3 will start once I get the Spin offs finished. And it will take place in Los Santos and Blackwatch, Ragland, and Pariah will all be coming to play.

Pedrofaria339 – thank you, it was a spur of the moment character and I am happy people like it

Xalimech – Thank you.

Rmarcano321 – just to show a bit of Ryūko growing up for no other reason than cute. Yes. Because Alex is that awesome, and she's slowly becoming obsessed with him. Because… I like to think that it would be funny for one Horror to continue to bug the shit out of Ragyo, and I made him a real character because I like the idea of Constructs further evolving.


	45. Spin Off Up

The Dexter Spinoff is up... yay!

This chapter will be deleted in a week


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